It's been two months since I last posted an entry on my blog and that's because time has run off on me. I've been unbelievably busy these last few months. I've been working for AmeriCorps for 3 1/2 months now and I've been living in West Virginia for over seven.
My job has been wonderful. I can't believe that I'm actually doing something with my history degree. How many people can say that? Right out of college and I'm actually in the career field that I want to be in. At the museum, I've been doing everything from giving tours to decorating for Christmas to washing lace from 1830. I think I fit in really well with the people there and they like me a lot. It's so different than my internship at Pearl Buck. There's an actual staff at the North House and committees for each area of the historical society. There's an archives and a collections room. There are changing exhibits and people actual visit on a regular basis. It's like Pearl Buck was t-bee and the North House is little league, or maybe even middle school baseball.
At City Hall, we've been making some head way on new walking tour brochure. I'm really excited to be working on this project because the old on is, well, ....crappy. And I'm gonna make the new one totally kick ass. Other projects I got going on are a photo exhibit of Lewisburg through the years to be on display in City Hall, rerouting a Civil War path to the Confederate Cemetery, and developing signs to be places around the historic district of downtown Lewisburg as well as directional signs for pedestrians navigating downtown.
So that's what I've been up to. My professional life is soaring and so, because I believe in karma and balance, my social life is crap. That's how it's always been, but I'm fine with it. I never thought I would be doing such wonderful historical projects. I love my job. Every so often I'll get a little down in the dumps that my best friend is cable TV, but really it's not that terrible. How I Met Your Mother is a great show. And every time I get a little downer than normal, I walk around Lewisburg and I fall in love with the town all over again. It's adorable and quaint and lively and busy all at the same time. It's America's Coolest Small Town!
I haven't gotten into any crazy adventures down here. It's a bustling metropolis: no swimming in the river or living in tents for these people. It doesn't make as interesting a blog topic as my past WV living arrangement. But those mountain people are just a little too removed from society for me. (Although I do love the fact that I don't have internet at my house.) In November and December, I left town just about every other weekend. I went to Athens for a weekend and took Emily and Sonya, some non-native WV buddies, with me. It's pretty entertaining to watch people as they experience Athens on a home game day for the first time. I went to Ohio for Thanksgiving: had dinner with my grandpa and cousin, went to some bars in downtown Cleveland, hung out with my brothers in Columbus, saw a bad ass Irish band called The Drowsy Lads. In December, another non-native WV buddy, Eva and I met Billy and Bethanne in the Smokies for a 5k called the Santa Hustle. Everyone was dressed up as Santa Claus. And it was every bit as ridiculous as you think it was.
 |
| Me, Eva, and Bethanne. I didn't take the beard off for the rest of the day. |
 |
| Massive amount of Santas |
 |
| Did I mention that we saw bears? 5 bears. Yes, Dad, there was a bear. |
Then I went back to GA for Christmas. I stopped in Athens on the way down, hung out in Leesburg for about a week, got to see some wonderful people, stopped in Athens and Greenville, SC on the way back up, and finally got back to WV on New Year's Eve. Unfortunately, I woke up Christmas Eve with tonsilitis, but it went away when momma loaded me up with pills, but I was stupid and forgot them at my parents' house. So on New Year's Eve, I woke up with my throat almost completely closed up. It hurt to talk, to eat, to drink, to breathe. I would have cried, but that hurt too. And I had to drive 5 1/2 hours back to WV like that. So my NYE was spent in bed from 3pm to 10am. I spent the next two days recovering, and even now I still don't feel 100%, but no pain no gain.
So the new year started out pretty crappy. But when I think about it, 2011 started out pretty crappy, but ended up being one of the best years of my life. So I'll take it. Comes in like a lion, our like a lamb kinda thing, right? Or is that March? The Ides of March? Now I've gone and confused myself. Anyways, that's the update on my life. I'm still alive and well, sorta. I may be updating the blog more often now because I've decided to leave the soul-sucking monster also known as Facebook. Maybe people will be more likely to actually call me and have a conversation rather than use the convenience of a network that claims to connect people when all it really does it alienate them. That's my rant for today. They'll prolly be another one soon.
Until then, Happy New Year. I wish you and yours a safe, happy, and healthy year.
