Well, it sure has been a long time since I’ve written here hasn’t it. A lot has been going on since I last posted.
Well, lets see, where to start. I guess the big news is, for those who don’t know, I went up to Wisconsin to visit my best friend after Christmas for about 3 weeks and had such a good time. When I got back to Texas, I continued to look for work, but really to no avail. I was coming up on the end of my lease at my apartment in a couple of months, and it just didn’t make sense to renew when I didn’t have a job.
So, after thinking about things and talking to my mom, I made the decision to come up to Wisconsin and to try to find a job. I gave notice to my apartment complex and started packing up my apartment.
Now, during this time, at the end of April, my former employer got in touch with me and we met up for dessert when she was in town. After talking with her and talking to my mom (this happened in the time I was thinking about going up to Wisconsin) I ended up going back to work for her as her assistant, temporarily and part time, for about 6-7 weeks. It was nice to be able to work a little bit again and somewhere that I had prior knowledge of the company and the people. I was there until the beginning of June, but then, it was moving time!
So I got my apartment all packed up, brought my cat to my mom’s and got everything moved everything into storage, thanks to the movers! I stayed at my mom’s for a few nights to make sure everything was squared away with my apartment and that everything was in storage that needed to be. Then, on Monday morning, I got up VERY early, packed up my car, said goodbye to Isabel and set off on the long drive to Wisconsin.
But I made it. I’m here in Wisconsin to see what this adventure has in store for me. Here are some pictures from my trip up to Wisconsin.
Do you ever wish you could try different snacks without buying a whole bag or box just in case you didn’t like it? Well there is a company that let’s you do that, and they are called Graze.
Graze is an online company where you can get subscription snack boxes and you can choose how often you want those boxes to come, whether it’s every 2 weeks or once a month. What they do is send you a box with 8 single serving portion snacks picked out just for you, and each box is different. And, you can snooze your next box up to a month, if you are going on vacation, just need the extra money for one month, whatever reason.
When you sign up for Graze, you’ll go through all their snacks and you have four options on each one: Trash, Try, Like, Love. If something doesn’t sound appealing to you and you have no interest in trying it, you can Trash it, and they won’t send it to you. For your first time, you may just put Try on everything you want to try, although some things may sound delicious enough that you want to Like or even Love it.
They have so many different food options ranging from nuts and seed mixtures, popping corn, cookie dippers with a sauce, even Miso! There are so many different options for so many different tastes, and you may discover something you didn’t realize you liked before.
I use to bring my boxes to work with me and keep them in my desk, and then I had almost 2 weeks of snacks there in my desk, already portioned out, all packed in a nice box so it didn’t take up too much room. And if I didn’t like something, that was the only portion I had and I didn’t waste money on a bag or box of the item.
One of my favorite items that I discovered is called Hickory Smoked Barbecue. It contains BBQ flavored peas, corn nuts and hickory smoked cashews. I would have never thought that I would enjoy BBQ flavored peas, but these are delicious. And I never would have discovered this wonderful snack with Graze.
With Graze, they now have an option that you can shop online for a lot of their snacks, so if you find something that you like, you can order a bigger version of it. You can order a bag with (usually) 6 single portions in a box, or a sharing bag which ranges in ounces all over the place, depending on the product and how much fits in the bag. I’ve had something that’s a little more than 3 oz and other things that are 5-7 ozs.
The reason I’m blogging about this company is because I believe in them and the snacks they provide and that there are options and tastes for everyone. And I believe right now, when you sign up you get a 4 sampler box for free, just pay $1 for shipping. I highly recommend that if you like snacks and trying new things that you check them out.
Platonic Soulmate. BFF. Ride or Die. Best Friend. There are several terms out there that people use to describe their best friend. But how do you really know when someone is your best friend? It’s different for everyone, but for me? Here’s how I know.
1. She Appreciates My Weirdness:
Now, I’m not saying that I’m weird or odd…at least I don’t think I am…but I do have random thoughts and theories and questions about things that I couldn’t ask anyone else but my best friend. I have a theory about a tv show we both like or I had an epiphany about a conversation we had weeks ago, etc. I know that she understands the need to just tell someone something, even if it’s stupid. I know this because she does the same to me, because, like her, I know that sometimes you just need to be heard.
2. Strangers Ask If We’re Related
On more than one occasion, she and I have been in line at the grocery store, just talking, and the person at checkout makes a remark or question about us being sisters. Or someone we just met wonders the same thing. Now, we don’t look alike, but we are so similar in personality and mannerisms and speech that people mistake us for being related.
3. When One Of Us Borrows Money From The Other, We Know It’ll Be Paid Back
Now, we’ve all done it before. Forgotten to pay a bill or had an emergency and you just don’t have the money for it. In those situations, for me anyway, I know that if my best friend has money to spare or a credit card, she’ll loan me the money, no questions asked. And when you tell them when you’ll pay them back, they don’t question it. Same for me. I know that if I lend her some money and she says she’ll pay me back on a certain day, she will. On numerous occasions that money has been paid back to me before noon, without me having to remind her of it. Even if it’s a larger amount and I get paid back in installments, I still don’t ever have to remind her when each payment is due, she’s already on top of it.
4. Things Stay The Same
My best friend and I live in different states, far away from each other, so we don’t get to see each other that often. However, we talk almost everyday, whether it’s by phone, text, Skype or the occasional FaceTime (which we really don’t utilize that often.) And when we do finally get together in person, even if it’s been months or more than a year, it’s like nothing has changed. We just pick up right where we left off. We can ride in the car in silence without it being weird, we like to do that same stuff like play games that are meant for more than two people like Catch Phrase or Scattegories. We still even like to just hang around and do nothing but talk. When we do get together we don’t have to make big plans or itineraries planning every second of our time together. For the most part, we can just play it by ear and know that we’ll still have a good time.
5. No Matter What, You’re Always There For Each Other
When all is said and done, we’re there for each other. Always. Day or night. No matter how big or small, I know that she is there if I need her. If I really needed to, I could call her at 2 in the morning to talk (not that it’s ever happened, but if it were really serious, I know that I could.) I know that she would have my side in a fight, but will call me out if she thinks I’m in the wrong. While it’s not easy sometimes to tell someone the truth, I know that she will tell me if I ask for it. She won’t placate me or just tell me what I want to hear, because it does me no good if I have false hopes or expectations on something. She’ll listen to me if I just need to vent about something, regardless of it she has any interest in it or knows much about it. Basically, I know I can go to her if I need to. Period.
Here’s one of many funny anecdotes from our friendship. My best friend and I are fast talkers, especially around each other. She found out that one of our favorite bands was coming to town on their tour, and she called me, while we were both at work, to tell me about it. We talked for a few minutes then hung up. She then texted me a few minutes later because when she got off the phone, one of her co-workers told her that it sounded like she was talking in Chinese because of how fast she was talking. It made us both laugh because I understood her 100%. Just another example of why she’s my best friend.
You see it on almost every new blog, the introduction post. The first post that says, hey world, here I am and here is what I’m going to write about. This, it not going to be one of those posts. As this blog is just intended to be an outlet for my randomness, we’ll start out that way.
Social media. It’s amazing how many ways there are for us to connect to people from around the world. Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter and so many others. Perhaps some people abuse their social media, but then we encourage them by continuously liking/sharing/retweeting/etc their posts and pictures and tweets and whatever else they do. So really, is it all their fault?
And then there are those people that have social media accounts, but never use them. So when you’re doing your Facebook “spring cleaning” you have to questions: “Can I unfriend this person?” “Do they ever use Facebook?” “Will they be offended if they eventually sign on and find out we’re no longer friends?” And then most of us answer those questions with, “oh well” and proceed to unfriend them.
So, for my first blog post, I enter this poll. What is your favorite form of social media?
Welcome To My World 