moving to HI: the why and the how

Hello from Oahu! Tomorrow marks a week that I've been on this glorious island and today was finished out my first week of work. I (pretty abruptly) picked up and moved, and didn't have a chance to see or even talk to a lot of people that I wanted to before leaving and instead of telling the story over and over, here it is. I started this blog a while ago but never really kept up with it because 1) there was nothing interesting in my life 2) I saw everyone that cared about me every day and 3) nobody was reading it! I keep texting my mom pictures every day and I figured it would be easier to put it in one place and if any of my friends or fam were interested, they could keep tabs on me too. I plan to use it to talk about sewing and the stuff I'm making on my off time, my Hawaii adventures, and all the silly, funny things that happen in life that I want to remember when I'm old and grumpy. Anyway. This is it, this is me, love it or leave it! But I hope you love it. And remember, you can leave comments too so let me know if you stopped by!

It's not like I'm going off to war or anything and it shouldn't be such a big deal to move, but I am (was) deeply rooted, about to hit a milestone birthday, a total mama's girl and the biggest cry baby and all of those things together just made it a big flipping deal.

Moving to Hawaii is not like any other kind of move I've made before. It's more like moving to a different country than a different state. I couldn't just load up my car with my stuff or rent a truck and hit the road. It's across the ocean, my health insurance wouldn't work there, it's really expensive, mullets and fanny packs are still cool and everyone kisses you on the cheek when they meet you. It's hilarious and awesome, and every day something happens and I find myself thinking "I can't believe this place is in America!"

Bahar and I on my first trip to HI

Basically the story of how I ended up here is a wacky series of coincidences starting about a year ago that led me to meet my super mega awesome friend Bahar. B and I then went on vacation to Hawaii, where her extended family lives. I got a taste for Hawaii that you can't recover from. Three months later, B moved to Hawaii. There were tears. She then got a job and when she told me about it, she said "I'm already trying to find a job for you here." I was an ending point in my job at the time and booked a celebratory trip to Hawaii to visit B for funzies and cocktails and general debauchery. Everybody joked that I wouldn't come home, but I kept saying "but I booked a round trip ticket so I have to come home!" One week into my trip I signed papers to start what is literally my dream job at that same company. Dream job, people, as in the literal job of my dreams. When people who think they're helpful but aren't really say "if you could do anything you want for a job, what would it be?" or "find what you love and then find a way to make money doing it," this is the job that I would come up with. That job. That is the job I was offered. In Hawaii! I took my return flight, visited with my family and friends, did a bunch of boring grown up paperwork, went to Disneyland (SO FUN) and then popped right back over to start working within 2 weeks.

the only Disney ride that made me motion sick

I was clearly not amused, but the boys were having fun.

I am now a pattern maker for an activewear apparel company, and yes, the view from my high horse is fantastic!

I am lucky (so, so incredibly lucky, and if I was anyone else I'd be like, I'm #blessed!) that after a struggle to figure out my right path, I feel like I'm on it. Creating my own destiny, as they say. A month ago, I was having this tremendous anxiety about turning 25 and pretty much feeling like I sucked at aiming myself in the right direction. Everything I tried to do would be good for a while, and ultimately I got burnt out trying to be someone I'm not and force myself into a mold that didn't fit. Negativity breeds more negativity and before I knew it one aspect of my life that I wasn't pleased with was spilling over into everything else and making it all one lame, soupy mess of emotions which no amount of punching things at kickboxing class could make better. But lucky for me, it turns out that the opposite is true, too. When one part of your life is kicking ass, the rest of your life just naturally jumps on the ass kicking train and before you know it, all of life's asses have been kicked and you're feeling pretty awesome.

That's where I'm at today. Feeling awesome for sure.