Today has been one of a few AMAZING days up here so far.

         This change of life has sparked many thoughts and emotions in me.  You know, the only thing constant is change... Yet, I've always thought that many people get stuck in their own little rut in the machine of life.  Some people are completely satisfied and happy in their rut I guess, and wouldn't consider to be "stuck" at all.  But perhaps that's why change is such a hurdle for some... and a terrifying thought.

         As much as I loved the people I knew in Reno, I felt stuck.  For four years I was in my rut and I was lost in it--feeling like I had no direction.  For all those years I just wanted and wished for an opportunity to arise to allow me to escape, because it felt as if anytime I tried on my own, it never worked out.  The thing I have somewhat come to realize though... is although constant, change is scary no matter what... especially when it's something big... and even if you've been wishing for it.  But it's good.  It allows you to re-examine things, and perhaps allow you to re-invent yourself in some ways.  Of course it's always important to be who you are, but I'm thankful for this opportunity to change with the change.  Most importantly, the one thing I've come to want to re-invent after my own examining, is the fact that you have to decide, in a lot of ways, to be happy in whatever rut you're in.  Because the truth of the matter is, we're all in ruts... some people's get to deviate many times in their life, and maybe change in scale from time to time, but ultimately it's all the same in life.  To quote something from my never-failing vault of wisdom--Dawson's Creek-- "People are about as happy as they make up their minds to be."  Word, Dawson.  SO true. haha, but really.  So without further rambling, I've decided that, as this new life up here has been given way for me, I'm going to make up my mind to have amazing days. It's as simple as that--because if I can do that, it seems other things will fall into place. =)  And today was pretty amazing.

      For a last get-away, as the first day of school is tomorrow here, we ventured on a hike up near Lake Crescent, up to Marymere Falls.

When we took Mark home to Port Angeles, I had to pull over because I couldn't believe how clear and beautiful it was overlooking the water.  LOOK! Those mountains WAY over there are Canada! haha

    So we had a pretty awesome day, and then I was able to come home and relax a little on the piano.  For the first time up here, I had a hit of creativity and wrote a complete song.... and I really like it--(which is rare! ha)   Tomorrow I'm going in to work in the studio for the first time.  I'm pretty stoked!   I'm gonna be working with a Canadian artist that just finished an album in my uncle's studio... says he has some ideas for me! ha  Excited to see how it goes!  I'm thinking this whole new change of attitude is gonna work out nicely =)

OH!!!! One more thing!!! Speaking of music.... don't you just LOVE when you hear a new song and it completely stays with you.  I heard a song this last week that has been haunting me ever since.  It's produced masterfully--it's beautiful, it's heartbreaking, and it's hopeful.  I want to end this blog by sharing it, as I've completely fallen in love.  Enjoy =)

It's been a crazy week so far.  School doesn't start for everyone until next Tuesday--which is nice, but my parents have been a little frantic trying to learn the new ways of their school districts, and getting their classrooms all ready.  I can't even imagine.... But guess what we found in the Sequim Gazette a couple days ago!  

Kathryn on the bridge! So pretty =) We decided to bring dinner to the beach, 'cause, why not! Super nice =)

Washingtonians... Ha ha. 
Well, we made it!  However... for a moment there, I didn't think we would!  It was a pretty rough trek up, and when I think back on that drive, only a week ago (seems like ages!), I honestly don't know how we did it.  Last Saturday, we spent the ENTIRE day loading the moving truck--with the MUCH needed help of some awesome friends.  Steve Malloy--you're pretty much our hero for treating that truck like a Tetrus game on steroids and being able to shove in ALL of our crap!  Still can't believe it! ha ha And Juan and Jordan... seriously, we couldn't have done it without you guys!   The horrible part was, we thought packing the truck was going to be our hardest venture.... NOPE!  Ha, that was the easy part.  Idiotically, we left some random things out to pack in the three cars that also had to make the journey... I mean, 3 cars... that's totally enough room, right?!  WRONG. And long story short-er, it didn't fit.  That was when we all had breakdowns (me, especially!)  We were beyond exhausted, stuck at a dead end with what to do, and were supposed to be leaving for a 15 hr. drive in 6 hours.  We decided we were too tired and sleep was the most important thing at that point.  We all woke up the next morning at 6 am (already 2 hours behind our originally planned schedule) and re-packed all the remaining cars... and literally by a MIRACLE, we made it fit this time.  We were able to get out of town at about 10 am.... which made us arrive in Port Angeles around midnight.  SSOooooo...  it was the definition of grueling, but we're here and finally almost settled into the new digs.  Speaking of the new digs... the new house is awesome--I LOVE IT!

So... First blog.  Weird.  I haven't done anything like this since highschool, in the pre-Myspace days (believe it or not), when "livejournal" was THE thing to do, and also the main thing to cause drama in our adolescent lives.  We all had one--and in the passive-agressive way of teenagers, we all read each others while pretending not to.  Such good ways of communcation... the good old days (or maybe not so "old" as I am starting, in some ways, the exact same thing haha).

Nevertheless, here I am, hopefully a lot more mature than those days of self-indulgent, "read-my-problems" writing.  Many changes have and are taking place in my life, and as a means to further strengthen connections with friends and family, I decided I'd start this blog--and I am quite excited about it.  =)

So without further ado, here's the big thing in my life at this moment--I'm moving.  It's seems simple on paper, yet it's crazy ha ha.  We're leaving the place I was born and raised in--Sparks, NV--and moving up to the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State.  So many mixed emotions have been stewing for the past 3 weeks since we decided to go for this.  But all in all, I'm excited, because never before has something come together so seemingly perfect in my life.  It has to be "meant to be".... that's all I can think.  So I hope that through this little journal/blog, I can stay connected to all the people I have grown to love and cherish in the Reno/Sparks area.  I'm also doing this to try to simply chronicle this time that, perhaps, is one the biggest things that has and will ever happen to me in my life... and then of course to keep anyone interested (if any, ha) updated with the happenings at our new home. 

We're still in Sparks, but the 48 hr countdown to take-off has already started.... Man, it's crazy. 

-A