• The fact that as of January 18th, I’ve now lived in Philadelphia for 6 years.  Considering I initially planned on being here for just 3 years, this is something of a milestone.  My life is so very different now than it was back then that I struggle a little even articulating all the ways in which I’ve grown and changed.
• I am ridiculously in love with Scott McNulty.  Neither of us has written much about the fact that we are silly for each other on our blogs, in large part because it felt too special to expose to the harsh glare of the internet, but I am happy to announce that I adore him.
• My parents recently ran into an old friend/coworker at a concert.  This man used to tell me stories about what it was like to grow up in a small town in rural Oregon and I would hang on to his every word.  It was delightful to hear an update as to how he is doing and know that his life has been unexpectedly interesting and wonderful, despite (in some ways, because of) multiple heart attacks in recent years.
• The joy that is living in my apartment without a roommate.  I feel comfortable in my home in a way that I haven’t felt for years and didn’t really even know I was missing until it arrived.
• My continuing attempts at keeping myself in a place of balance, that is free of undue quantities of harsh self-judgment.

Those are the highlights (or something approximating highlights).  I’ll be back soon with more.

I’ve been spending a little time looking at my life lately and realized that despite the inner turmoil I’m dealing with on a daily basis about what happens when I graduate in December, things are looking pretty good. And most of it has stemmed from this blog in some way. I originally started the blog as a place to write about my search for work that made me happy. In the process of writing about my pursuit of a path, I discovered that the pursuit was turning into the path. Then I started to write about food and it all started to click.

So many of the friends I have these days first entered my life through blogger events (meetups and BlogPhilly, mostly). Without blogging, I wouldn’t have become friends with Scott and never would have starting making Fork You (I like to think that we’re making the world a better place for eaters, one recipe at a time). I even found love through blogging, short-lived thought it was.

All of this is to say that I appreciate my blog (and it’s steadfast readers. Hi mom!) and all of the wonderful experiences I’ve had because of it. I appreciate my life. And despite the uncertainty I feel about what happens next in life, I’m happy to have walked this path and to be here now.

I say all that to say that I don’t have anything good or clever to say right now.  Hopefully I’ll be back to my regular, witty (I like to think of myself that way) self sometime soon.

If you are looking to get a better idea of how the Carnival works here are a few links to past tent-pitchin’s.

The Random Yak

But Wait! There’s more

Inspired by a True Story

So, if you’d like to participate, email me the link to a post you wrote that seemed to be particularly mundane, and I will include it in the roundup.

So, interesting news from the roommate front. I placed my roommate ad over the weekend and got 13 emails from interested parties. I’ve now met with six of them, and I’m calling it a day. I’ve narrowed it down to two potential roommates, and I’m pondering this: do I pick the roommate who would be practically invisible, or do I go with the person who would be the most fun. These are important issues I’m dealing with here. I have to figure it out though, because I’ve promised everyone a response by Friday.

I’ve also been reminded over the course of this whole roommate search just how small Philadelphia really is. Sunday morning I got an email from someone interested in the room. He said he was an African-American male, who was currently living at 3rd and Pine. That address rang a bell for me, and I wrote back and asked him if he had possibly been the roommate of Mary Nussbaum*, an acquaintance of mine who used to live in that area. He wrote back that while he hadn’t lived with her, he actually did know her, and knew the roommate to whom I was referring. It’s just not a very big city.

I promise to keep working on the new blog, and will hopefully get it looking nice by the weekend. Thanks for being patient with me as I learn all this stuff.

*Not her real name.

Send thoughts of safety out to my sister and her traveling companions, as they were in a little fender bender over the weekend in Arkansas. Not realizing that the overpass they were crossing would be icy (Oregonians are not always known for their cold weather driving skills), they didn’t slow down, and slid into the side guard. The white van is a little banged up, but still driveable, and hopefully some valuable cold weather driving lessons have been learned. (Who else is surprised to learn that it snows in Arkansas? I always assumed it was one of those states that never got cold).

I didn’t tag anyone to play along with Pax’s meme in the post below. I’m normally not much of a tagger, believing that it’s akin to asking people to buy tickets to your 7th grader’s school play (a practice to which my parents were firmly against). But today, I just feel the urge to tag, and so I am. I tag people with whom I’ve been in movies theaters in the last week:

Scott
Luna
Sherri
Howard
Matt

Go forth and meme.

A Family Secret
Rosemary
Pinch Pie
Break up pain, all over again
Election Day
The Umbrella of Good Wishes

A few things I learned through this process:

My ability to stay on good terms with ex-boyfriends, former babysitting charges (and their mothers), cousins I haven’t seen in years and parental business associates is to my benefit.

When I ask my father for help in the future, I must be prepared for his competitive side to come out. God forbid I ever run for an elected office.

There are many more people with whom I share blood reading this blog today than there were three days ago.

I have an expansive network of people in the world who care about me and wish me well.

I don’t care about winning nearly as much as I do about the experience I have along the way.

Many thanks again to you all!

(You do have to sign up with Philly Future to vote, but it’s quick, easy and free).