Good bye Washington my (old) home!

Well I did it. I'm in Idaho, 546 miles from home. It's been a crazy few days, I spent Thursday and Friday frantically packing, and visiting with friends. 

My sister woke me up at 7:30 this morning so she could say goodbye to me before she left for work. I took the dogs out, went to the chiropractor one last time, then loaded the dogs and left my home in Washington for the last time. 

I encountered heavy rain, and some crazy wind. Gas station attendants pump your gas for you in Oregon, and you get to go 80 on the highway in Idaho. 

The dogs and I grabbed dinner, I took a long hot shower and now I'm in bed! I have to be up at 7 am to head to Utah! 

I have more stops planned tomorrow because it's a shorter leg of the trip. Can't wait to share with you! 

Hugs from, IDAHO! (Oregon too)

Where did my days go?

Wow. It's already Tuesday. I have three days left in Washington. I'm trying to let this really sink in, but I'm struggling. I'm done packing up my room, I just have my closet and bathroom left to do. Most of the stuff will have to be shipped down later, because my car is almost full. I've been gifting some of my stuff to people on my local "buy nothing" group. I gave quite a bit of stuff to a man that said his daughter has never had makeup or soap that wasn't from the dollar store. I was so glad I could make this girls day. 

My friends threw me a going away party this weekend. We ate dinner at Gordon Biersch in the Pacific Place in downtown Seattle. We road the great wheel and met some really cool guys on the street that were in bands, they were on tour and Seattle was the last stop of the "Passport approved tour". Thanks Forest Blakk and These Reigning Days for an awesome night! I got invited to be a VIP at the concert the next night. 

I have two interviews scheduled for right after I get to Florida. One is with a YMCA and the other one is with the private swimming company. So already I have more job prospects 3000 miles away from Florida, then I do right here where I live. 

I have hotel rooms booked for the first two nights of my road trip. I'm staying near Boise ID the first night. Do you guys have an suggestions for dog friendly activities in Boise? 

Hugs From Washington! 

Running

I am freaking out. I was nervous some, a little stressed before, but last night everything settled in. 

I am moving 3000 miles away from home. All alone. I'm buying a house I have never seen in person. I'm putting everything on the line. I know this could be good for me, but that didn't stop me from having a panic attack. It's hard to breathe when I think about doing this alone. It's not for fun, or because I think Florida will be one big vacation. It won't be, I'll have to work hard, and get a good job. I can do that. Right? 

Part of me feels like I'm running, and I agree with that part of myself. I'm running from the gray that is Seattle, I'm running from the cold, I'm running from my depression, I'm running from my health problems, I'm running from a failed engagement and a cheating fiancé. I am running. I need to catch my breath before I lose it completely. 

Just over a week to go!

The past two days have been filled with sorting, folding, packing, and loading. And I've come to the sad realization, but I don't have as much space in my car as I thought I did. So, now I have to find something or somewhere to cut back, I don't want to shop to Florida with absolutely nothing, but at the same time it all has to fit in my car.

So I have loaded all of my lotions and soaps and most of my bathroom stuff. Now I'm just working on packing clothes in laundry bags that I can shove into my trunk.

 I have so much stuff to do and I only have a week and three days left! 

I promised to tell you a little bit about how I had made my decision to move to Florida. It was a really rough decision because I was leaving family friends and a job that I love for something that's uncertain. But due to my health conditions I really needed the sun in Florida. Also most of my work experience is in aquatics. Living somewhere where aquatics is only something that happens part of the year, makes finding steady work really difficult. 

Florida is warm enough here around that they have plenty of opportunities to work in aquatics. 

So I actually created a pros and cons list. Some of the pros were, warm water diving, sunshine, swimming year round, year round work. A few of the cons included hurricanes, it being really hot during the summer, it was far away from my family, and a nanny job that I had grown to love. 

Talk to my dad about this because I really wanted his opinion. He told me that: there was no time like right now to do this, because I was young, single, I didn't have kids, so I really didn't have a reason to stay. I wasn't getting enough work. I needed to go. He also said "you can't let a person hold you back from doing what is right for you." (Regarding me not wanting to be so far from my grandpa whom I am very close with) 

My mom agreed with my dad, my grandpa agreed and so did my sister, I had everyone's support. 

So I told myself I had a week, just one week to make up my mind. After about four days I woke up and looked out my window and it was foggy and rainy and gross. I had this overwhelming flood of sadness and homesickness for Florida. I wanted the sunshine. I wanted blue skies. That emotion made my mind up for me. I was moving to Florida! 

Then I decided I wanted to be in Florida by the end of March, so I had one month to pull it all together. Oh boy. 

Hugs from Washington! 

Flash back!

I'm am back in Seattle! The trip back home to see my family was a 500 mile round trip, but it was completely worth it! I went for a long drive up into the mountains with my grandpa, and spent the evening watching you tube with my dad. I won't see my mom or my dad again until Christmas time, and that is pretty hard to think about. 

Now that I'm home, it's back to packing like crazy because I leave in one week and five days! 

So I decided to write about my first trip to Florida, what made me want to movie, and how I made the final decision to actually move to Florida. 

The first time I visited Florida was in June 2014.  I had really close friends from Washington state that had moved down to Florida about eight months before. My best friend was going to get married so, I booked a ticket down for the wedding! the wedding was called off a bit before I got there, but I was still over the moon to see my friend!  I was in Florida for eight days, I went to adventure Island, Clearwater Marine aquarium, and went scuba diving. We spent  full days on the beach. I fell in love with the sand, surf and blue sky! The beautiful clear water, crept into my heart and cemented itself in my soul. Everyday after I got back to Washington, it's all I could think about. 

Fast forward 5 months.

I had been through a lot of crap in that 6 months. 

A failed engagement, my baby cousin died, discovered spinal cord damage, surgery, loss of work, and a slew of other heath problems. I was depressed. I was in a place I didn't think I could get out of and I was mad at myself for feeling this way. My family decided to send me back to Florida for a vacation! 

After they told me I got to go back I had about two months to plan my trip, and man was I excited! 

My grandpa made a comment that really stuck with me, he asked me what I liked about living in Seattle, and I responded with "nothing" then he asked what I liked about Florida, and I talked for the next 20 minutes. Then he told me, "maybe you need to move." That is what got the wheels in motion. 

Part two coming up soon! 

Hugs from Washington!