It's been a very long time since I wrote anything. I had a spectacular visit to Illinois. It was filled with family, friends, and fun. It also made me aware that South Dakota is officially my home now. It was great to see everyone and go to some of my favorite places, but I missed Rapid City.

My job is awesome. I'm really loving working at Someones In The Kitchen. The people I work with have really made me feel at home. Having this job has gone a very long way to making Rapid City livable.

The weather here has been beautiful. I've fallen in love with Fall in South Dakota. I've been doing a lot of baking now that the weather has become crisp. I've also been decorating for Halloween! We've decided not to throw a big Halloween party, but we are making some fantastic costumes. I'm going as Medusa and Carl is going as the Minotaur. It should be really cool, if we can get everything done.

The Life and Times of Ash

I'm finally beginning to feel at home here. Its about time, considering I've been here for 9 months. I have a job that I adore, working with people whom I adore. Carl and I are getting along swimmingly and are working very hard to continue doing so. I have a wonderful tea shop to hang out in as well as a fantastic bar to frequent. I'm currently at Bully Blends (the tea shop) enjoying a cuppa Hermes Orange Green tea with soymilk and a tasty whole wheat, bran, and raisin muffin. Vino 100 and the Tinderbox expanded their bar, so I now have a quite thinking bar I can spend time in. Its heavy with the aromas of intoxicating cigar and pipe smoke and they get wines and beers that other bars can't. The only issue is that its pricey because they're paying through the nose to get said wines and beers. I'll support them though, because Rapid City needs these sorts of places....I need these sorts of places.

I really want to begin work on my cookbook. Time is such an issue though. If I have free time, like right now, I feel guilty for not cleaning the house. I'm otherwise busy with work or helping take care of Leo. I find it impossible to concentrate on anything when Leo is around. He's a sweetheart, but a three year old doesn't understand when people are too busy to pay attention to them. If I could afford to hire a housekeeper, then I'd free up a huge amount of time. Unfortunately I'd have to pay them in chapters of my book!

I'll be visiting Illinois in a little less than a month. I fly in the night of Sept 15th. I plan to spend several days visiting with my family. That weekend is the big Chloe and Jack birthday party. Leslie and John just purchased a new house in Naperville, its a lovely Cape Cod style home. I'm excited to see it. I'm borrowing Michelle's car in order to visit CU for a few days. I have grand plans for evenings spent eating and drinking at all the places that I've missed since moving. I'll be flying back to RC on the 23rd. It should be a wonderful trip!

Day 1 of Juicing

This mornings juicing experience was great! My recipe:

1 carrot

1 stalk of celery

1 apple

1 orange

1 pluot

Juice it all together and gulp it down! Now I just have to figure out what to do with all the pulp....

Fruits, Veggies, and Plane tickets

My mom and I got my plane tickets this morning for my trip home next month. I'm so excited! I'm going to spend four days with my family and three days in CU visiting friends. Michelle has been kind enough to offer me the use of her car when I go to CU. That will make the trip so much easier.

I'm trying to eat healthier again. My diet hasn't been the best since I moved here. Too many sweets and fried foods. I'm doing a juice fast this weekend, in hopes of shocking my body back into health. I'll post the juice recipes I'm using as I make them and give feedback on what tastes great and what needs help. I also subscribed to VegNews today. I'm hoping it will inspire me.

getting by and traveling along

Today was my third day working at Someone's In The Kitchen. Its wonderful! I already feel at home. This is a very good thing because I'm getting sick. My body hurts in ways that it hasn't for years. Though its slightly scary, at least this time I know what causes it and how to care for myself. I need balance and routine so I can stay healthy.

I'm planning a trip home to Illinois for mid-September. I'm hoping that Carl and Leo can come with me. If they do, its a lot cheaper for us to drive than it is to fly. If they don't, it only cost's $80 more to fly than it does for me to drive. I plan on spending a chunk of the trip at my sister's new house up north for Chloe and Jack's birthdays. Then I'll visit CU for a day or two before heading back here. As much as I wish I could tack on a few days down south at my folk's house, that would add an extra 12 hours of driving. I don't think I can fit it all into a week.

I need to spend the rest of today cleaning our house. It looks like a bomb went off in here. I just haven't had the time or the energy to clean this past week. I've either been too busy or too sick. I wish I could afford to hire a friend to clean our house, but its just not in the budget.

Yippy Skippy

Yay! Betsy from Someone's In The Kitchen called and offered me the job I wanted today! To start out I'll be working Part-time running the coffee bar and helping customers on the floor, but she'd like me to take over some of the receiving in a month or so. This means I get to give notice at Seattle's Best tonight. I'm going to offer to stay on Part-time until I go Full-time at the other job. As much as I dislike the people I work with there, I do like my boss and I don't want to let her down when I know she needs my help. Plus, we just had a conversation about assholes who no-show, no-call the other day. I don't want to leave them in a bind, but I don't want to work there either. I start at SITK on Thursday morning, can't wait!

The call couldn't have come on a better day, I was very depressed this morning. I cried myself to sleep on the couch, because I was so lonely today. I often feel out of place in this town. I come from the land of liberals. I find myself sensoring what I say and what I tell people about myself here, far more than I did in Illinois. It makes me sad. Everyone I've met at SITK have made me feel like I'm at home. I'm hoping that continues as I work there.

Well work went mush smoother last night. Last night's shift supervisor overcompensates for the fact that no one else cleans. Which would be fine if she tried to communicate with the other employees about what needs to be done and why, but instead she just jumps everyone's ass and complains. I did get to come home early last night, but cutting me early doesn't help me learn how to close the store. I'm excited about my interview this afternoon, I have wishful thinking that Someone's In The Kitchen will be my new Art Mart.

Which would go a long way to make me feel far more comfy here in RC. I'm in the process of formulating a plan for how to make this place my home. I realized the other day that being out of my routine is a huge part of my being homesick. I'm the only one who can change that. I need to do the things that helped enrich my life and root me in CU. I've begun to look at the things I did when I was living in my studio and trying to figure out how to balance my relationship, and my new role as a "step-mom", while doing those things as well. I'm working towards happiness!