I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore...

Well happy Tuesday to you all.

I'm finding myself a bit restless on this day after Monday, which happens to be my Saturday...which in turn makes this Tuesday my Sunday.

Confused yet? Good, I'm glad you're with me. And while we may not be in Kansas (namely, Texas), Florida isn't quite Oz, but it is a pretty great place to be. Replace Emerald City with Disney and I find that I'm riding the yellow brick road to work five days a week and still enjoy it immensely. I was trained on a new station on Sunday and seemed to do pretty well. I will admit openly that I was glad it wasn't a very busy night, but I also look forward to getting more comfortable behind the grill. I'm not sure why it intimidated me so much...and still does if we're being frank. I suppose all of this still feels rather new to me. I'll not be able to use that excuse for too much longer. I can't believe that I've been working in this industry for nine months already.

I can't say I'm exactly where I thought I'd be when I started going to school. I'm not really sure what I thought I'd do when I got out of school. I was just kind of focusing on taking one thing at a time. If I tried to look at the big picture back then, it might have overwhelmed me completely. Step one: go to school, get good grades. Step two: swallow pride and move home. Step three: come to Florida to get some experience and get in to Disney World for free...

Past that, I think I was just going to see what happened. I think it ended up working in my favor, though Dijon is still trying to get me back to Texas. I do have to say, it is tempting. To be close to home and all the people and things I know and am familiar with. This place is still very foreign sometimes. And even though I have my own place with roommates I love more and more every day and I'm much more established at work....there are days that it still feels temporary. Maybe it just hasn't fully set in. Who knows?

I love my work and I am developing some really stellar relationships here. My mom has always told me she could drop me anywhere in the world and I'd make friends, I suppose I just thought that she thought that because she's my mom. And, let's face it, I have a ton of close friends back home. Friends that will never go away or be replaced...even if I wanted them to. I don't know what I'd have done if I came out here and didn't have people to lean on. Especially on the hard days.

What have I learned? On days when I miss Texas, it's best to make Mexican food or BBQ. Or even chili. When I want to shut myself in my room and wish myself home with everything I have, I drag my roommates to a karaoke night. Karaoke nights here are generally filled with an older crowd, so they don't have quite the same reaction to my version of The Humpty Dance...but I usually have my own little cheering squad, so it still works. And on the very hardest days, I talk to Val and my mom as much as possible and pretend they're just around the corner.

I think that I wanted to talk food here, but this blog has turned into a mix of my cooking adventures and a place for me to just talk about what it's like to move far away from home for the first time later in life. It's strange. And spooky. And exciting. And difficult. And thrilling. So many things that I don't think I could ever put into words.

So, to end my little rant for the day, thank you for reading. Listening. Being my support both in Florida and in Texas (and the other random states where I have wonderful friends). BB is at home cooking, I think, while I borrow internet from my favorite place in Orlando (yes, it's Devenney's).

At the end of the day, I think that I am just happy that I have people who love me enough to be my backbone when I feel mine slipping.

"A heart is not judged by how much you love; but by how much you are loved by others."
-Wizard of Oz

Happy adventures,
Lauren