A lot has happened in the past month: I ran another trail
race, made a trip back to the homeland for the holidays, and OH YEAH, got a
full-time job!
I am bursting at the seams with excitement when I say I just
finished my first week working for the County of San Mateo in their Office of
Sustainability, in Redwood City. I’ll be working on water and energy projects,
and for the other stormwater nerds out there, I’ll be making sure we comply
with the NPDES stormwater permit. My first day, I took one look at the standing
desks that everyone had and knew I’d fit right in.
The job search has been a long and winding road, to say the
least. I started this whole shindig 10 months ago and applied to over 30
positions. One job I applied to required an online logic test, with questions
like “Bob, Don, Pete, and Mike work at a factory. There are three workers a
day. Bob and Don work four days a week. Mike works Saturdays. Who works
Fridays?” For another job, I was to destroy any notes I took during the interview
and was to assume that the interviewers had never read my application and knew
nothing about me You know the phrase ‘jumped through hoops?” I get it now.
The past six months have been challenging, but one thing
that helped me get through the unknown was consistently running. This fall has
been one of my favorite running seasons yet and I capped it off with a 10K trail
race at a park near us in December. The race was one of the most laid back
races I’ve done: I was still taking off my sweatshirt and hugging Owen while
the gun went off! My only goal, to enjoy myself, was easily accomplished. I
could not wipe the smile off my face as I flew down beautiful single track the
last two miles of the race.
Our trip back to the homeland (New Jersey) for the holidays
was packed with family, friends, and East Coast goodness. One day Kelli and I
made our annual pilgrimage to Ithaca for Mexican bagels from CTB. If you’ve
known me for more than approximately 10 minutes, you’ll know that I’m obsessed
with Mexican bagels. For those that haven't been enlightened yet, it’s a bagel with jalapeño cream cheese,
salsa, and melted cheese. You can try to make it yourself, like I do all the
time, but you’ll end up with a sad, phony version of the real thing. While
I have no problem sitting in a car for eight hours just to get a Mexican bagel,
we had to justify the trip to others in some way, so we met up with Kelli’s
college friend from Ithaca and went cross country skiing with him. I've got to hand it to Cameron, first for supplying us with gear, but mostly for not laughing his ass off each of the hundred
times that I fell while trying to go up the first hill. I’d like to say that
Kelli and I eventually got the hang of it, but that just wouldn’t be true. We
were in the backcountry, not following any semblance of a trail, and things
were pretty hairy. I enjoyed every second of it.
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| A rare upright moment |
Another day my dad, Kelli and I hiked at a local nature
preserve. It was very cold out, and we kept joking that our brains were
freezing, which may explain some of our antics. We came up with trail names for
each other: Dad was Shroom, I was Scat, and Kelli was Snow Steaks- she misheard Dad
say “no snakes” and wildly invented the concept of steaks that you cook in the
snow. At one point, I was leading us in a dance/chant to warm up and I was getting
really into it- using a weird accent, bobbing my head, twerking, and the like.
All of a sudden, Dad announced “we’ve got company” and I looked up to see a small
group of people descending the trail.
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| From L to R: Snow Steaks, Scat, Shroom |
Though Owen and I joke that the west coast is the best
coast, there is one thing the west coast doesn’t have: our family and friends.
I sincerely appreciated every second we got to spend with my family, Owen’s
family, and our friends. Until next time, Jersey.
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| The result of hours of toil with my mom: not too shabby! |
As soon as we got back to California, we began busying
ourselves with the task of-wait for it... buying a car! I am happy to report that
we traded in Jasmine, Owen’s Jetta, for a Toyota Yaris hatchback! Though I’ll
share, it’s technically my car and I am still mildly freaking out that I
actually have a car again. It’s been a year and a half since a man named Tyreek
Cabbagestalk (no joke) totaled Ole Faithful, the Oldsmobile Cutlass that I was
quite fond of. I actually have to thank Cabbagestalk, as he opened my eyes up
to the joys of life without a car. But frankly, I’m over it. And more excited
than ever to have a proper set of wheels again.
‘Yota Yaris was quickly broken in as we drove to Owen’s
coworker’s house that night for a laid back New Year’s Eve. A few days later,
we took her on her first mini road trip to Muir Woods, north of the Golden Gate
Bridge. She handled well on everything we threw at her: freeway, windy mountain roads, traffic, wind, downpours. I couldn't ask for more.
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| Muir Woods |
Now, Owen is off to the UK for work for the next two weeks
and I’m relishing in the freedom of having a car again and the excitement of my
new job. After six months here, I'm finally feeling more settled in to California life.
