Porcupines

In North Carolina we were always worried about copperheads when the dogs were out in the backyard. In Maine, as I learned yesterday, we are always worried about porcupines. Porcupines!? I've never even seen a porcupine in the wild before ... sure, I've seen them at the zoo before, but wow. This I was not prepared for. I'm still not prepared for skunks ... thank heavens the dogs didn't find a skunk! They did, however, find a porcupine. Apparently there is one that lives on the property here and one of the dogs has already had a prickly encounter with said little rascal.

Brody (Rotweiler-Chow mix) and Sox (Whippet-Lab mix) are sort of my new dogs. They're not actually mine, but I live with them. They belong to the couple that I am subletting from, and while they're out of town I'm taking care of them. We're bonding. And we really bonded yesterday when they came back from running off with porcupine quills in their faces. What a shock to see that! Not at all expecting that one. I learned that porcupine quills need to be removed asap because if they stay in they work their way deeper into the skin. Needless to say, we (two sad dogs, Scott, and me) made a trip to the Animal Emergency Hospital. Glad Scott was there to help! But bummed that we spent our morning at the AEH. They made quick work of the quills and gave us back two groggy drunk-looking dogs! Yay for nice vets! What an adventure!

Sad Sox

(He was a little nervous around Scott before we went, but after that adventure he and Scott are friends.)

Bummed Brody

(Not only in the side of his face, but one in his ear, and a couple in the roof of his mouth - poor guy!)

Two sleepy puppies!

and so it begins ...

I suppose it has already begun ... I moved up here a month ago. But it really feels like it has begun now. I'm not waiting anymore to hear back from potential employers. I have two jobs, which is as much as I'm going to take on for the time being - The Body Shop and J.Crew. Those just happen to be the two places out of the ten-ish that I applied to and I got jobs at both! What luck!

Speaking of luck, I can't quite express how fortunate I feel for having found two jobs and a place to live in less than a month! Wow - it's been less than a month since I left the boat! It's a great thing to remind myself of on a regular basis, especially when I start moping and feeling down in the dumps. I have two jobs and a lovely place to live, with two great people and two fun dogs! And the best part of it all is that I don't have to go back to school in August, so I get to keep these great things as long as I want! That's going to take some more time to sink in ... the whole not-going-back-to-school-in-the-fall thing. I'm still overjoyed when I sit down to read or knit and don't have to stop after a few minutes to work on homework. I should graduate from college more often - this is great! Yes, there are responsibilities that come with being a grown up ... but I feel like I'm handling them in stride.

I'm learning A LOT about retail. There's so much pressure! Wow. And more than that (because I feel like selling a school, which I think I'm pretty darn good at, is similar to selling products) I am learning about products so that I can sell them better. It will all take some time, but I've already learned more than I realized. So that's good! I guess it took me a while to get all of those fun facts that I know so well about Warren Wilson in my head, so I just have to learn these new ones bit by bit! It's fun though. And there's no homework. (Muahahaha!)

However, speaking of homework, I'm considering taking some classes that I feel like I missed out on in college. I want to find a fun art class to take - ceramics is what I am the most interested in. And I'd also like to take a digital SLR photography class. I'm going to wait until I'm nice and settled in up here to even look, but I've been looking forward to taking these classes for a long time.

Dear Academia,

I just can't get enough of you! I'll come back to you as soon as I can!

Love,

Adrianne

Settling In

I moved into my new place today! It's really quite exciting! And I finally have everything out of my car for the first time in ages! What a relief. And I'm getting to know the two dogs I live with - Sox and Brody. They're sweeties. I love dogs! I didn't have much to move in, so that didn't take very long at all. I'll have some rearranging to do once I have places to put stuff. It's super exciting to finally have a place that I can call home and to feel comfortable here. Yay!

And work is going well too! I've only worked two days so far, but I work again on Wednesday! I'm enjoying it. And I'm still - it feels like forever - waiting to hear about other jobs. I'm trying to be patient ... someone out there is testing me. But life is good!

Mmmm ... Maine.

Home!

Well folks, it looks like I'll be here for a while! I have myself a job and a place to live! Still waiting to hear from a couple of other places about jobs ... I'll keep you posted! But in the mean time - here's my new address!!!

245 Brown Road

Durham, ME 04222

Yay!

dreams for one day ...

I was, as I have been doing quite a lot lately, sitting around today and I found this awesome article on NY Times. I'm going. Not sure when yet, but I'm going. I have to. Talk about dream come true! And if you'd like to come with me, please do! But know that I will spend my time taking in every little detail that I possibly can about absolutely everything. And it will probably be a requirement to read back through the books, just so I can refresh my memory of all of the details. Costumes might also be required. But seriously? Harry Potter Wizarding World? Oh my, but of course!

patience pays off

Great news! I have a job!!! I was offered an assistant manager position at The Body Shop in Freeport, Maine yesterday, and I start work on Tuesday! This is so exciting! It means that I can stay in Maine. I'm moving to Maine! Wait ... I suppose I'm already here. But now it's official! And I had an interview at J.Crew yesterday, which went really well. Now I get to play the waiting game with them too! This is all just a grand test of my patience ... which, if you know me, means a lot. I'm actually doing a good job, thank you very much! I've been VERY patient. And it's paying off in big ways!!!

Now I just have to find a place to live. I've been looking at renting a room/subletting from someone for the time being, and then looking for an apartment later. That way I can have a place to live and be more picky about an apartment later. This is scary ... I feel like such a big kid now. I got myself a job and now I need a place to live. Yikes! So exciting! I've looked at one room right outside downtown Freeport, which would be super convenient, so we'll see how that turns out. It seems hopeful, but I'm keeping my eyes open for other options as well. And hopefully I'll get another job at J.Crew too! I'd be happy as a clam at high tide! (That reminds me, I've been eating so much seafood lately ... my goal for the past couple of days has been to not eat any seafood to give myself a break!)

So hopefully I'll have a new place to live and a new address to send out! Yay!

I'll update more once I know more ... here I go wait!

Jobs?

My decision to leave the boat has been a good one. I feel so much better now! And I applied to about 10 places in Freeport, ME and I had an interview this morning at The Body Shop. It went really well! I have three phone interviews (!!!) to complete the process and then we'll see what happens! I have an interview on Tuesday at the JCrew Factory store here in Freeport and hopefully that will go well too!

I'm staying in Kennebunkport with Scott's grandparents right now, which is a blessing. I'm so glad to have a place to stay as I wait for people to call and interviews to happen. Hopefully I can find a place to work, or places to work, and a place to live and move in soon! This is exciting!!!

Otherwise I've just been hanging out. I explored Portland on Tuesday, which was fun! It's a big city and there are lots of places to explore. I found a cute little coffee shop and put in an application there as well, so that was convenient! I've just been taking it a day at a time, which has been great so far. Tomorrow I think I'll go explore Kennebunkport some more ... and if I get the job at The Body Shop then I'll have to go get some more black clothing. It's an all black dress code! I have black clothing though, so that shouldn't mean buying too much. Ha! Chorus in high school got me buying black clothing and now I have tons! Wow.

I suppose that just about sums it up for me right now. I'm just waiting!

Ciao!