- Put in a transfer for Minneapolis, struggled with the decision for weeks. Had a long sit in SFO with my awesome crew and ran into a whole bunch of other awesome crew that I work with in Portland. By the end of that day, I realized I wasn't ok with the probability of permanently saying good-bye to PDX. I pulled my transfer that same night and it felt like someone lifted a bunch of bricks off my shoulders!
- Since I have decided to stick Portland out for the foreseeable future, life has gotten quite a bit easier. My days of being on reserve and not being called have become much more agreeable. I have taken to exploring the city more again, working out with my roommate and making myself branch out and make new friends.
- I discovered Powell's Books....VERY dangerous store, I could easily spend my entire paycheck there. I have resisted the temptation and settle to sit in their cafe with my tea and book, surrounded by the beautiful smell of aged books!
- I sold The Mom-Car....very sad but good day. I haven't used my lovely Malibu in months, being in Portland I use the train and have no use for a car. My budget needed a bit of a reprieve. Richie's roommate purchased my steadfast companion from me this month. She did her job well, never broke down on me, sped me to the almost demise of my driver's license, and then on to a new clean life with a new career. Served me well, she will be missed!
- I entered the world of singledom again. Not really much to say there, other than I am really starting to wonder when men will have a shelf life longer than a banana with me. That being said I'm taking a major break and just enjoying life as it comes instead for awhile.
- I worked my butt off for four months, burned myself out, which led to the command decision that I needed a vacation. Grabbed one of my pilot-buddies and hauled off to Vegas for three days! Got some much needed sunshine (after months in Portland, I'd begun to wonder if it even existed anymore) and some play time away from all my communicative devices i.e. cellphone, facebook, email etc etc
- Later on in February I ended up with 5 days off (unheard of in Reserve World) so I headed down to Cotati (hour north of San Fran) to hang out with my awesome Cottrell friends! Love their kids and got some much needed girl time with Erika. And some MUCH needed time to work on my motorcycle and take that beautiful beast out for a quick spin. Had to leave it at a quick spin because I had a little TOO much fun on that spin, new sidewall was visible when I got back.
- I got to have two girl-dates on Valentine's day. First came when one of my besties got called on a trip from Los Angeles to fly up to Portland. She caught me in the airport, I was so happy to see her I almost cried! Haven't seen her in months! Then I jetted off to San Fran, where Erika picked me up from the airport, we decided to do some sushi in the city...totally didn't realize until her husband made fun of us that two ladies out together in San Francisco on Valentine's day looked really REALLY funny for the fact that we're both straight. Ended up being a good laugh and some amazing sushi!
- After my few days in Cotati, I crashed an overnight with a crew in Monterey (that means I knew crew members and could go stay with them in their hotel). We all split the cost of renting a car the next day and drove to Carmel the next day. It was BEAUTIFUL! Got to hang out on the beach for a little bit, hard to remember why I ever left the beach! My Monterey overnight turned into staying at a hotel in San Fran the next night. I picked up the last couple flights for the other flight attendant, but by the time our delayed flight got out of Monterey we had missed our connection back up to Portland. So they put us up in a hotel in San Fran and we got to hang out with another crew that was there, it was so fun! Great breakfast in the morning too!
- I have read all of my roommates textbooks and several novels in the last couple months while sitting on reserve. I actually am really loving the fact that I have all this time to read again!
- I'm still fighting the uphill battle to get out of debt and am really looking forward to that raise in June. I've learned how to live on oatmeal, so it will seem like I'm making tons of money by the time it comes around. Can't thank my parents enough for helping me out making ends meet while I made this crazy career change.
- I found a book that I LOVE, it's called How We Decide by Jonah Lehrer. I totally recommend it to EVERYONE! Pretty easy read, was incredibly eye-opening for me and some of my past and current choices and the things that led to those decisions. I'm going to be re-reading it again shortly!
Ok ok, I think that pretty much covers most everything. I'm having a hard time missing my family up here in the Northwest, I'm seriously looking forward to Rachel, Buddy and Revin moving to Seattle this summer! A 30 minute flight from me so I can go squish my Baby Shark Nephew to death on a regular basis! I also added Richie to my United flight benefits as his Christmas present...maybe we can talk the whole family into migrating to the Northwest ;)
