what a relaxing and productive weekend.

saturday

• 7:30am - 11:30am: woke up, snuggled down in my bed for awhile, flipped through a few news programs, started reading wrapped in rainbows (the biography of zora neale hurston i recently bought in order to learn more about her before i engage in my pilgrimage), poked around online a bit.
• 11:30am - 12:30pm: showered, cleaned up around the house a bit, waited for my mom to show up.
• 12:30pm - 12:45pm: dropped my mom off downtown so she could meet a friend for lunch, headed up to kay's house to begin the big move(tm) to her friend's house.
• 12:45pm - 2:45pm: moved boxes from Kay's previous living space to her new living space, chatted with her new roommate (who i thought hated me but who was perfectly sweet to me while we moved boxes in), ogled the mayhem her new roommate lives in (how can someone have such a beautiful house and then treat it so badly??? thank you mother for instilling some semblance of cleanliness in me!), acted cordially to her parents as they treated us uncomfortably and semi-strangely (yes, if you don't make the effort or give a shit about developing a mature relationship with your child, you will end up with no relationship at all), got surly because kay revealed she slept with some random chick the night before and she's never slept with another girl while we've been dating (i was used to her sleeping with boys, and i knew this would come eventually, but i wasn't totally prepared for it).
• 2:45pm - 3:45pm: went to lunch, ate naughty things like fried cheese and french onion soup, told Kay i was surly and jealous about her sleeping with another girl, got over it.
• 3:45pm - 5:45pm: went to the uw bookstore and bought birthday presents & cards for sean, jared, and my mom, headed home & on the way rented mario party 6. omg.
• 5:45pm - 9:45pm: mom showed up at the house, we played a few rounds of mille bornes, ate mac & cheese + apple sauce, joked around a bit, listened to her rant about her new crazy roomie (best story: when my mother told her that she would be out of town for the second week of feb. her roommate asked her why. she told her that we would be going to florida and she responded with, "ooh! i want to come!" when my mother told her that wasn't an option, she asked where we were going to go. my mom said that we were thinking of going to key west and her roommate responded, "you really don't want to go there, that area is poor and filled with dirty mexicans!" my mom didn't bother to correct her that, of course, the hispanic population there is most likely of cuban or puerto rican decent, because she wouldn't have understood the difference. my mom said, "well, we speak spanish so i'm sure we won't have any problems," and her roommate replied, "but that highway is really dangerous and you really shouldn't be putting your daughter at risk like that. you know, you'll be responsible for her and you don't want to be exposing her to that kind of possible danger." my mom just laughed and retorted, "you don't know my daughter! she lived in the jungles of costa rica when she was, like, 20 and has hitch hiked all over europe. she's done things i don't even want to know about - if anything, she'd be more likely to put me at risk!!" her roommate was taken aback by this and of course my mother and i were tickled pink. now i keep saying to her "don't put me at risk mom!!! you're responsible for me!!!!" if only :)
• 9:45pm - 11:45pm: was a little bit cranky, no reason why, decided that i should make an apple crisp, sent Kay to the shop to get vanilla ice cream and i baked up a yummy applie goodness.
• 11:45pm - 12:45am(sun): vittled on the sweet vittlie with Kay, watched bad sketch television, fell asleep.

sunday

• 12:45am - 7:00am: snoozied with my ladybug.
• 7:00am - 10:00am: it snowed! i woke up to miss lu cranking it up, so i opened the bathroom window to let her out and was greeted with a winter wonderland - quelle magnifique! played in the snow with lu, took some snapshots, told Kay & my brother (who responded with "SHIT!") that it was snowy out (neither of them wanted to get out of bed, however), started laundry, made a couple of snowballs, stood out on the stoop and breathed in the lovely, crisp air.
• 10:00am - 1:00pm: continued on the laundry train, cozied in bed with Kay a bit, read a bit of my book, talked to my mom on the phone about the snow, poked around online.
• 1:00pm - 2:00pm: swept the whole house, mopped the kitchen & bathroom (which were in sorry shape!), cleaned up the bathroom, wiped down the tables and counters, put away the last of the christmas decor.
• 2:00pm - 7:00pm: played mario party 6 (omg, soooo much fucking fun) with Kay & t, ordered naughty pizza hut pizza, mom came over for a brief visit and chat, continued on the laundry and cleaning train, played another round of mario party 6 (t won both games, the pooper).
• 7:00pm - 8:00pm: did a rub down salt scrub and mud mask with Kay, took a candlelit bath together, pampered ourselves.
• 8:00pm - 9:00pm: older brother jared called and i got their address and prairie's birthday (which is the same as Kay's!), told him about Kay and he was wonderful about it (i was worried about how he would react, he has a lot going on right now with the twins on the way and i didn't want to add to the stress), feeling wonderful that my whole family knows about Kay and we can begin the process of acclimating to her new self as a family, began typing this journal entry.

all in all, a productive and relaxing weekend. i am so incredibly happy to have finished the "coming out" process with my whole family, and to have all of them respond so wonderfully and accepting of Kay - when her own family is not dealing with the issue and pretending that she is not transforming in front of their very eyes. i only hope that this bodes well for my familial relationships and that we can strengthen these bonds over the next few years. it is definitely a priority for me to make more time and commit more energy to my family and friends; i think it's part of the overhaul that i am making with my whole life - and i'm feeling positive and optimistic that I'm finally getting my priorities straight.

i was commenting to my mother that of all the things that i learned at speakeasy in the past seven years, the most important lesson was to truly understand what role i wanted work to play in my life, and how important things like material gain were to me compared to experiential growth and nurturing my human relationships. while it would have been nice to know and understand how to fit work around my life earlier on, i am thankful that i have learned this lesson at just 29 and that i have so many more years to enjoy my life, and to appreciate work for it's merits and not let it rule my reality.

the year has begun crisp and phonetic. news agencies are perennially obsessing about whether or not we're going to receive a dusting of snow; the christmas tree is now naked in the living room, drooping, i haven't figured out how to remove it quite yet.

i've been reading a book about the practicalities around starting one's massage practice - it's both exhilarating and daunting to read. first off, i have every intention of moving from seattle once i have completed my training - to an as yet undetermined location. the advice of the writer of this book, however, is to stick around somewhere you know a lot of people. yes, i'm sure i'd have a ready-made practice here in seattle with all of the pent up stress cases i know; but i'm really ready to leave.

so another part of me is thinking maybe i should just throw in the towel on this whole massage school thing and instead move somewhere and start over again. i'm really looking forward to having some time off and to traveling to san francisco and florida for a couple of weeks, just to get some perspective. it's impulsive and irresponsible of me to just move away from this area, right?

i spent the last seven years learning that all the things i thought i wanted/should be weren't really what i needed. on this chilly january eve, i can't help but ponder what would be lost if i just sold it all and returned to vagabonding for awhile? admittedly, the most pleasurable and exciting topics and experiences for me center around travel.

but i waffle about everything, no? and i think that once i've made such a drastic change in my life and i'm immersed in a new learning course that i'll feel much more at ease with staying in this city for another year. kay is making noise about where she's going to go to school once she's completed her transfer requirements, and i'd really be open to anywhere right now. it's funny how i worked so hard to end up exactly where i started. only now i have sofas!

i crave change, so it will come to me. i have 18 days left at speakeasy; the end can't come soon enough.