the new phase

Do you ever go in phases?

I'm sure you do... everybody does

You get stuck on one thing and just repeat it over and over and over again

I have had some pretty weird phases over my lifetime 

Gel pens- I would refuse to write in anything other than those sparkly sticks of rainbow magic

Raisin Bran Crunch- those clusters of sweetness are more like clusters of crack

Jennifer Aniston- Literally an entire wall of my room was plastered with her picture... a wallpaper of "Rachel Green" faces

Purple- purple Kool-aid, grape flavored bubblicious, purple wall paper, purple hair clips, purple ring pops, purple EVERYTHING

Refusing to tie shoes- I bought elastic springy shoelaces (remember those!?), nikes that Velcro, tied my shoelaces in knots and tucked them into my shoes, eventually switching to nothing other than flip-flops.... even in dead winter requiring me to walk through inches of snow to class... i didn't care, I was hardcore... anything to not tie shoes

Monkeys- I thought I was Jane Goodall, wore overalls, killed "poachers", lived in a cherry tree for 80% of my summer days, and wore monkeys around my neck with velcro hands and had such a large collection of them I think it totaled around 25

*Note: These are not in chronological order- I was not pretending to be an Ape-loving grey haired woman in my teens

I bring this topic up because I have fallen into a horrible phase...

I used to be all organic, clean, healthy... only drinking green tea as an obsession, sometimes switching to days consuming only chai... but sadly my new phase has become sugar free vanilla lattes.. I KNOW! What have I done...

I have fallen prey to the the corporate scoundrels named Starbucks

I really have no choice though, where I live there are no small cafes to support

but that will change soon

I have decided to stay here in LA for the beginning of my summer vaca. instead of driving back to my hometown

My school gets out for summer really early, almost two months before all of my friend's schools- which is just hell

So I have made the smart decision of working on my independent study class nestled in the sweet havoc of the one city that stole my heart

And I am NOT living on campus

I really really really want to find a place to stay that is close by santa monica/venice/west hollywood or any place that will have cute little independent coffee shops for me to work

Now the hard part is just trying to find that place

And the search begins.....

But on a happy note!- I am super stoked to be here

I absolutely f*ing love this place... and to be honest I don't know why

so many people complain of the very things I rather enjoy

I think its just the honeymoon experience of living in such a vibrant city that hasn't worn off yet

whatever it is

I am so excited for summer

I finally feel like my life is beginning

my life separate from my parents

we all believe we have our own life when we are little

when in reality we are living our parents life

Our parents are living, building their lives through relationships, jobs, spouses and then eventually kids- the kids are part of the life- we are part of the life

But now I am on my own-yeah I am still financially dependent on them, I will be until I am out of this university aka money-vacuum.

But I am beginning my first steps

Its like our second set of first steps- our second phase of learning to walk

Our parents have to timidly and slowly let go of our hands hoping that by the time they release us completely we will have enough balance of our own to navigate through the hazardous world that surrounds us

pretty good analogy right? Yeah, I was proud of that one

Anyways.. this is the most exciting time of my life.. and I know I always sound so cheesy when I write, but these are truly the things I think about when I am spacing out in my classrooms

My life has started

And it feels really good

xoxo

-K