A weekend full of decoration research fun...

My weekend consisted of driving to Round Rock to meet my mom(!), shopping without actually purchasing much, watching HGTV, drinking wine and eating chocolate... The one thing I actually bought was this lamp for my office! So excited, because I've been looking and looking and haven't run across anything I've really liked. I saw a similar lamp I liked that was rather expensive and I would have to order online, in various colors, and I wasn't sure if I'd want it at work. This one is just perfect, because its tiny and will look so cute on my desk :)

Watching HGTV and looking at decorating books and magazines reminded me again that I really love Craftsman style houses, like the one below. When I buy a house I would really love to have one! I can't wait 'til I can put in a garden and have a house of my own, but for now I am very excited about my apartment in San Antonio. I am really looking forward to moving in in a few weeks!

Found an apartment!

I am SO excited about this place! Mom and I looked at a total of 5 places today and the 4th one was the winner! She had picked it out over a week ago and knew it was her favorite and when we visited today it was definite.

The place is great. First of its BRAND new. I love places that are older and have character, but in a rental where I'm the single occupant, a lot of things I don't want to have to deal with or take care of. And since its new, those problems shouldn't be happening yet. Secondly, its gated and has a staffed office. Very important in San Antonio. Thirdly, it has parking and an in apt washer/dryer. I would rather not get attacked while doing laundry in a laundry room.

Things like utilities aren't included... and its not in Alamo Heights or Terrell Hills like I was looking for, but I feel that the pros of the place far outweigh the con of being in San Antonio proper. Plus its only a 15 minute drive to work without traffic! Which means it shouldn't be too bad during rush hour!

Hopefully everything goes smoothly. If so I'll be moving in in about a month!

Moving Day!

I am going to be leaving in a little under an hour to drive to Seguin tonight, and I start work tomorrow... yay!

Happy (belated) St. Patty's Day!

Yesterday was my favorite day of the year and it was definitely the best! Aside from all the green (especially the green beer!) and Irish-themed things, I got the job yesterday! I am SO excited and can't wait to move down to San Antonio and start... which I do on Monday! It's exciting and crazy to be relocating again, but I am so happy this time I have a job already lined up! I also have family in the area and know other people so the transition hopefully will be much smoother.

Last night in Vancouver

It's my last night in Vancouver.  As I sit here at my empty desk, starting at my empty walls and the air mattress on the floor I can't help but feel more than a little sad... I'm happy that I'll be getting to see my mom tomorrow and my family soon and I'm excited to be starting a new chapter in my life, wherever that may lead me.

I was able to pick up my new ipod from the post office today!  I didn't get to play with it for three and a half hours after I picked it up... what I was missing out on!  As unhappy as I've been with Apple recently, I love love love the iPod touch!  I downloaded some free applications beforehand... okay, I admit, I downloaded over 20... but its so nice being able to have them on the ipod and being able to play with them.  I also purchased a couple of games (Scrabble, Monopoly and Pocket God) and a Gratitude journal today.  Pocket God is entertaining for a few minutes, although I'm sure it'll be a nice pick me up from time to time.  The Gratitude journal is great because hopefully it will remind me to think of things I'm thankful for every day, because there are some even in horrible days!  Last Monday (the worst day ever), I can still think of at least 3 (Chili's in Calgary, D and the nice man at the airport parking kiosk).

I also discovered a great new website today, Polyvore, which I'll go into more depth about later (as well as my other new discovery WeHeartIt) since I need to be awake in roughly 5 hours so I can accomplish everything I need to so I can leave on time in the morning.  I always get too excited to sleep before I travel (and quite anxious that I'll oversleep) so I don't forsee myself getting a lot of rest.  Luckily I really don't have a lot of driving to do tomorrow, only 5-6 hours total, but I will probably sleep well tomorrow.  Don't know how often I'll be able to update, but now I have the ipod touch, so anything is possible.

Goodbye Vancouver.  :(

Countdown: 5 days

In 5 days, my car will be packed, my room will be empty and I will be driving south back into the US.  I'm sad to leave Vancouver and Canada, but it will also be nice to be back in the same place as my family.  Even though I know I haven't accumulated much more stuff than I came up with, it feels like tons.  I am not quite sure how I'll ever fit it all into my car.

D bought me an ipod (touch!!) since my old, white 60GB video was stolen on the bus between Thompson and Winnipeg.  It should be arriving Monday afternoon if Canada Post is on schedule.  I think tomorrow I will head down to Pacific Centre and pick up a case for it, since I really don't want to hurt it on the drive.  I downloaded some free apps today while procrastinating because I'm so excited to be getting it.  I have been wanting one for awhile, but had been waiting 'til Hibiki (my other ipod) kicked the bucket before investing in a new one.  Anyone know of any particular fantastic apps?  I have a list of ones I'll buy eventually, but until I actually have the ipod in hand, I am just sticking to the free stuff.

After picking up my T4 this morning (the Canadian W-2), I headed to Urban Outfitters on Granville to see about another Munny.  I bought a full-sized one and another mini.  The other mini came with a neat spiked mohawkish accessory, which will be perfect for turning him into Pollux.  The spikes will obviously be part of the sun and I can have the abstractness coming out other parts of his head.  Since Pollux was the immortal one, he should obviously have a cooler outfit.

I also picked up some neat letterpress notecards, a book, a "Pack This!" tablet (necessary for me) and some screenprinted rub one letters... all on sale!  I spent I think $15 on them total, which is pretty great.  I think that was some retail therapy, I am feeling pretty down about having to leave.

And finally, I sold my bed frame today!  The woman is coming to pick it up Sunday, so I have a couple more days to put off sleeping on the floor!  Haha.  Oh the joys of moving.

Phase 2

I had to tell my manager today I'll be leaving in a month... it makes me sad to know that my time here is already winding down and will be over soon.  I'm not quite ready to leave this beautiful place and the friends I've made.

I feel sad, but optimistic about the next step of my life as my focus sharpens and I'm able to focus more on where I want to go with it.  Hopefully, that'll be back in Canada soon.

Hunting... of apartments, fans and ABMs

The past several days have been mostly uneventful... I checked out a couple of places in Kits. I looked at one upstairs suite with a family and I ended up staying two and a half hours while they canned peaches, read to their kids and gave me a piece of blackberry pie. I really liked the family, but not particularly the house... the bathroom didn't have a shower and there was no parking. Sometimes I wish I hadn't brought my car but mostly I am glad because it really helps me out a lot... like today when I had to go fan hunting.

On Friday I moved from the first UBC dorm into the second, more expensive... the room is hot and I can't get any internet in it--very annoying. But it has two refrigerators in the suite (instead of down the hall) and an in-suite bathroom. Plus they clean every day... however, the hot room has been killing me. I couldn't find a fan in any of the area Safeways, so I had to look up Wal-Mart and Home Depot, none of which were nearby. So I looked up Canadian Tire and there was one just a little farther than I had looked yesterday! So this morning I woke up (really hot, of course) and headed toward 7th and Cambie. Since I have NO cash I had to park under the Save-On Foods across the street instead of at a meter... Although I found out later the Canadian Tire had its own parking above the store. I went in and found some really cheap, crappy fans for $20 and in the demo section I found a really great retro looking oscillating desk fan for $50. I hunted around and found the absolute last one in the store... the box was a little smashed but it hadn't been opened, so I figured I would try it out.

After stowing the box safely away in my car, I headed back out to find an ABM--like I said, I had NO cash... only a couple 5 cent coins--and found a RBC with an ABM! Then I was so happy I stopped at a Starbucks on the way back to my car right next to a Home Depot! The Home Depot is so new it wasn't even on the website yet... but now I know it is there, and I have a fan, so I am happy. I came back to the hot, hot room, opened up the box and realized I actually had to put the fan together myself... and it had screws. Since I'm not quite sure whether I brought my tool kit or not and I certainly didn't want to have to drive back to Canadian Tire/Home Depot and buy one, I figured out that my tweezers fit perfectly and was able to screw the fan together!

Thank goodness for the fan! It is cooling my room off right now while I am sitting out on the patio enjoying this beautiful view over the Strait of Georgia and Vancouver Island, watching the boats go by... tomorrow I have an appointment with Scotia Bank about setting up a bank account and I think I may head to the beach afterwards and read a book and spend a little time in the sun. I'm supposed to hear from my two favorite places I looked at tomorrow... I have my fingers crossed!

And so it begins...

The idea for the title of this blog came about when, during my drive from Texas to Vancouver, I was arriving into the small city in Washington state where I'd be spending my final night on the road and I realized that Vancouver really was halfway to Alaska for me. The reason for the blog is, as many people know, to chronicle my move into a new city where I have no place to live, no job and no friends from the state I was born in, grew up in, went to school in and where everything in between happened.

Although the title is "Halfway to Alaska," I won't actually be making it there. I do have plans to visit someday--I'd love to take a cruise up and drive back down the Alaskan Highway--but right now I am working on settling in to beautiful British Columbia and making a life for myself here.

Saturday morning at the bright cheery hour of 4 a.m., with my car completely packed, my mom and I took off from grand ol' Lubbock, heading north to Amarillo. I won't bore you with the details, but we spent a grand total of 40 minutes in Oklahoma and had lunch north of Denver... a very late lunch. We counted windmills, got stuck in one-lane-only construction lines and saw a whole bunch of nothing really in the process. Once we hit Wyoming, we decided to go see a dinosaur graveyard about 30 mins or more out of our way, and unfortunately the only thing we found was a long closed down house that once directed you to the dino pits, but we couldn't find any way of getting there. We arrived in Rawlins, Wyoming around 5, got some dinner at Taco John's and I was asleep around 7 p.m.

The next morning we didn't leave until about 5 a.m., driving through a sort of "no man's land" along the continental divide where water doesn't flow any direction and making it all the way to Utah in mid-morning. We stopped for lunch somewhere insignificant in Idaho--which actually was very reminiscent of Texas--making it to Oregon early enough to stop in Baker City at the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center for about an hour and a half. The Center was fantastic, located up on a hill, and had actual parts of the Trail you could still see. From there we headed to Kennewick, Washington. We had difficulties finding the hotel and had a late dinner. The next day we didn't head out until about 7 a.m. since we wanted to miss the morning rush hour in Seattle. We stopped at the beautiful little mountain town of Hyak, had lunch in Everett and passed through Seattle and reached the border about 1 p.m. We were detained at the border for about 40 minutes while Border Patrol ran a background check on me and got my work permit in order and before we knew it we were off to Vancouver!

So here I am, sitting in my University of British Columbia hostel-dorm room wondering what I'm going to do for the next several months! First order of business is to find a place to live, so that is what I have been focusing on. I've already checked out a couple of places, one great and one not-so-great, and am looking at another one on Friday in the area I am really interested in living in. In the meantime, I'm hoping for the best!