rainforest driving

this morning I was driving through the southern end of the olympic peninsula for work...west out of olympia, almost to aberdeen (that's right!  aberdeen, wa; not sodak!), turned north at brady and ended up at mary m. knight elementary in elma.  it was a long drive; much longer than i expected and i had to stop once for directions since google maps led me slightly astray.   but it was lovely. 

one of the things i missed in alaska was driving. the 40 or so miles of road we had in juneau just didn't do it. no fun. i know the environmental impact is disgusting and i think i do an okay job of not driving unnecessarily.  so perhaps it was the combination of those two things, along with the glorious morning in the rainforest, that made this morning's drive quite beautiful.  

washington state...its hard to beat.

the countdown begins

folks!  i cannot believe it...i am a month away from 29.  as is my custom, i have entered the birthday countdown.  feb. 25 is less than 30 days.

29.  whoa.

4 jobs, 2 months

Since landing back in the Pacific Northwest, I have started four jobs and quit three.  Shew.  Not something I'm particularly proud of since it really accents a flakiness in myself that I like to keep more undercover than as a mode of operation.  

Back in November, I took a quick & dirty job as a cashier at Target.  Big Brothers Big Sisters then hired me as a part-time match support specialist...a job I was actually psyched about.  But when Foster Care at a local nonprofit offered me full-time for the part-time job I had interviewed for, I had to go with the benefits package.  All the while, I was still in the running for a job at Mason Co. Extension & the Squaxin Island Tribe.  They had a very slow process, complicated by weather and new management.  So when they finally offered me the job, I gave my notice to Foster Care...and put my quitting flakiness to rest.  For now.

So now I'm a Nutrition Educator for the federal Food$ense program--teaching communities & kids about affordable ways to eat healthy (bad logo, good probram).  That's right...I do some cooking for a living.  Scary, I agree!  I'm 75% out at the Tribe and 25% in low-income schools in Mason County (just west of Thurston County, where Olympia is).  

I started on Inauguration Day.  What a day for new beginnings!