No Longer A Vagabond

Yes, it's true. I am proud to confirm that as of Saturday (27 January), I am moved into my apartment and no longer living in a hotel.

Since arriving in Williamsburg, I had been staying at a Ramada, eating far too many microwave dinners, for about three weeks. Now I'm in an one-bedroom apartment with all sorts of room and space. I had some friends from work help me to heft clean all of the heavy furniture before enjoying some relaxing card games and pizza to the soundtrack of bad television. The rest of the weekend was spent organizing and orienting my apartment, which is coming along nicely! (photos: View from the corner in my flat... wall decorations yet to come; and the coolest shower curtain ever.)




Before moving in, the weeks before were mostly filled with work, reading and tv in a hotel room (the joys of waiting for a paycheck...), and more work. I've been doing a LOT of training at work, everything from dealing with terrorism to understanding, 17th century pike drills, and the nuances of John Smith's writings. I have to "clear" all four of the interpretive sites before I can even get into costume, which is not scheduled to happen til March. Needless to say, it's a lot of information and studying, but it's also a lot of fun. The people are fantastic and weird enough to keep things interesting.

Beyond work, I've hung out with friends from work, explored the area, learned the darts game "Cricket," and one weekend visited my former flatmate from London GP in Richmond. Busy enough...

(photos: Historic Jamestowne/Jamestown Island day -- The reconstructed wall at the original site of James Fort (note that the fort is not actually in the river); Pocahontas statue from the early 1900s with horribly inaccurate clothes; view from a corner of James Fort, including the original church tower and some of the mounds of current archaeological digs; running the hidden pine trails; and Jamestown Settlement from Jamestown Island with ships and all (nextdoor neighbors!).)






(photos: Jack playing Cricket at the pub; Scott and Jack having a heart-to-heart after their "contest"; view of the falls and down the James River from GP's fancy law office; GP scaling the wall to break into an historic cemetery; the church where Patrick Henry said his famous "Give me liberty..." speech; and downtown Richmond.)

Moving Down South

After all of the frantick socializing, packing, etc., I finally moved to Williamsburg this past Wednesday with the immense help of my family. Dad and Josh drove the moving truck towing my car, and my mom, Leslie, and I drove separately. We left around noon on Wednesday 3 January and drove to Hagerstown, MD til ten that night, only to be up again early the next day to drive the last few hours to Williamsburg.

Thursday was spent touring apartments all over town. Some were a bit sketchy, some were too expensive or too big, some were plain crap, and many were unavailable. I had a couple to see Friday morning, so as of Thrusday night we rendevouzed with the boys and went to dinner at one of the taverns of Colonial Williamsburg before returning to the hotel exhausted. The next morning, Mom and I went to check out another apartment, one that I actually really liked. I decided to go for that apartment, even though it wasn't available for a few weeks since it was actually a great price, clean, the right size, and the right feel. The rest of the afternoon was spent getting everything else arranged so that I can make do until my apartment is ready (storing my things, arranging lodging, etc.). After that, it was off to eat and shop around town (yay for fabulous outlet malls!). (photos: Moving my things into storage and Josh in a hideous sweatshirt; the family in Merchant's Square; and me and TJ.)





Today (Saturday), Mom, Leslie, and I went to check out the after-Christmas sales at the Colonial Williamsburg gift shops. Beyond the junk aimed at the Virginia version of fudgies, there were tables full of marvelous bargain books (of which I bought six!). Mom and Leslie also liked to tell everyone working at the shops that I had just moved to the area, which sparked a few slightly interesting and slightly awkward conversations. We then returned to the hotel and checked the fam out and me back in (since I'm staying at the hotel for a couple of weeks until my apartment is ready), so that we could head the other directioni on the Colonial Parkway to visit Yorktown for a while. We went to the National Park for a tour, headed downtown for lunch on the river, and then back to Williamsburg for a couple of errands before the family left for home. (photos: a ginormous cannon (12-pounds, I think it was) at Yorktown that can only fire 4-5 shots per hour; the English fortifications, the park ranger, and my family at Yorktown; Leslie poking what she thinks was part of a jellyfish; Leslie, Dad, and I in front of the York River with the Chesapeke in the far, far background; and the scrumptious local watering hole with some of the many motorcycles and convertables we saw enjoying the record-high weekend temperatures.)







Williamsburg seems like it will be a great place to live. There are fabulous little shops, great places to visit nearby, and lots of friendly people. While the mid-seventies weather today felt great, it gets me a bit worried for the summer since it will be a far cry from the relatively cooler weather of Northern Michigan.

By the way: We found this guy at Yorktown. Potentially evil cousin of Hermanio...? Hmmm, I wonder... (more info on Hermanio, see photo entries of Europe)

Happy Holidays!

The last couple weeks, as anyone could imagine, have been pretty nonstop. From working with the last-minute and post-holiday shopping with my seasonal retail jobs, to participating in family holiday festivities, to working on moving preparations, and to meeting with friends that I hadn't seen in ages, I've been crisscrossing Lansing and the state.

Christmas with the fam was fun. After missing all of the family gatherings last year, I was able to attend them all! Plus, I made the quick jaunt to Grand Rapids one evening to see my dad's side of the family, some of whom I hadn't seen in years and all of whom I rarely see. (photos: Josh (secretly excited to drink something better than PBR), Dad, and Uncle Greg; Josh enjoying an old teaball photo of me while Dad finds something even more amusing; my cousin Jake looking mischevious; and Jana and Josh trying to be interested in the holiday classic "Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome.")






I spent most of Christmas Eve cooking our contributions to dinner the next day, including preparing a yule log (cool historic/traditional symbolism, etc.), pie, and attempting popovers (without finding a satisfactory recipe). After work that night, we joined the cousins at the grandparents' house before returning for more snacks and holiday movies at home. The next day was filled with even more food, presents, Yahtzee, and still more food. Fantastic. (photos: My cousin Logan showing both his muscles and his fabulous array of nibble-worthy snacks; the Professor and my brothers, a bit too early in the morning for the boys; cousins Callie and Allison finishing off their plate of veggies, macaroni and cheese, and roast beast; me and my yule log; and present time!)







With the Chirstmas over, I turned my efforts to getting ready to move. I had to investigate apartments, rental trucks, bank accounts, and all sorts of minutia. I at this point also met with Joe (former Get on the Bus guru) who was in town for a family visit. We had coffee and did our annual chat (that had been sadly delayed since I was overseas last time he was in Michigan), and I realized how dreadfully out of contact I was with all sorts of other friends. My week then suddenly filled with all sorts of food-related rendevouz with people I hadn't seen/talked to in ages. I even made a trip to Ann Arbor for a day, had a Mackinac luncheon reunion. and ate a path through Frankenmuth in a way that only Katie and I could do. We also had a very belated 50th anniversary dinner for my grandparents in Chelsea, during which I was much ridiculed for taking photos of my food. (photos: Cece reacting to a less-than-desired voicemail in Ann Arbor; Cadi's teatime spread complete with Jane Austen chocolate mints: the family at our really big table at the g-unit's 50th anniversary dinner; Gpa making the toast; and my food... mmmmm... tasty...)







(photos: Island crew part I; Island crew part II; part of our Bavarian chicken dinner from the point of view of the chicken; hmmm... looks familiar, if only she was adorned in pretzels; another de-pretzeled pretzel wench, this time by the bathroom (taking the photo of the bathroom entrance drew a few stares); and me and Katie doing our interpretation of shopping on a budget (in other words, taking photos in things we would never buy unless we lived in Alaska).)








As for New Year, it was back more work, chill/game/food time with family, and a variety of events on tv (ranging from bluegrass on PBS to crap on MTV) with my mom at home. This morning, we also went to the inaugaration at the state capitol where various public officials, including the governor, took their oaths of office. Beyond that, the packing frenzy continues until I leave for Virginia on Wednesday! (photo: the Governor (aka Jenny from the Block) taking her oath of office)