return from vacation

So I'm back from Florida. Overall it was a great trip. We had amazing weather pretty much the whole time; hot and sunny days turning into cool and rainy evenings almost every single day. And not once did it rain during the day when we were wanting outside time. Any of you who have been to Florida know that this is quite the meteorological accomplishment.
It was really good to see my family but I would like to reiterate the point that I do not regret moving 1500 miles away. I'm sure it's the same with everyone, but I can only take so much face time without wishing I were elsewhere. I love my mom and sisters very very much, but we are oh so different in far too many ways. My mom and I had a talk about it and I told her sometimes I feel like I just don't belong in the family, the others share many of these very specific traits that I just somehow missed out on and that really irk me sometimes. Like poor time-management skills. It took us 4 times as long to do pretty much anything than it would have taken me to do on my own. But all my bitching aside, it was really great to see them. My sisters are growing up, people. It's scary.

Aly's two friends ended up coming along (they're the two on the right in the above pic) and it was very interesting to me to see how she acts around her friends versus how she acts around me. She is pretty much the opposite of who I was in high school. She's a cheerleader, she loves country music and hanging out at Wal-Mart, her boyfriend is completely devoid of any personality, etc. But I know from hanging out with her on my own that there's so much more to her that she doesn't show to people her age. I wonder why. Mary, on the other hand, is pretty amazing for someone her age. She's very funny and wise and just has a great outlook on life. She reminds me a lot of Heather when she was that age, but in a much more positive light.

The trip ended up being very strenuous physically. We went on a 10 mile bike-ride around Sanibel island's nature preserve one day. Another day we went kayaking for 3 hours. I'd never kayaked before but I really really liked it. I'd do that again in a heartbeat. Other than that, we didn't really do too much touristy stuff. We had A LOT of beach time, which is really what I was hoping for. I got a nice brown layer of tan, which I'm certain will disappear within the next couple weeks. I got to eat a bunch of delicious seafood, which is a rare and expensive pleasure out here in landlocked Colorado. So yeah, overall the trip was great. I'm very glad that I went and I wish I could do it more often.

In other news, I got a job today. After looking for over a month, I finally landed something. I'll be working (temporarily) for Morgan Stanley as a consultant. It's just pushing paperwork I think, but I really truly need the money right now. It's far from my dream job and I'm very worried about settling for something I'm pretty certain I'll dislike, but it's just so damn tough out here, I couldn't find anything else. So I'm going to give it a shot and if it sucks, I'll quit and keep looking. Wish me luck on that front, it's the biggest stressor in my life right now.

Other than that stuff, not much else going on. I'm taking the CBEST on Saturday and then Eric and I are headed up to Vail. I've never been to Vail so that should be fun. Eric won us tickets to see Ben Harper there, who I adore. One of the best live shows ever, he's amazing. We are staying at a ski-in/ski-out resort, which I've also never done. I'll post some pictures of that for everyone.

And finally, I'll close with a lovely beach scene for those of you who won't get to enjoy such a treasure anytime soon. Auf wiedersehen.