East Coast Living with a West Coast State of Mind

The leaves are changing and it’s starting to get COLD! We didn’t think we would be here long enough to feel the fall weather, but part of me loves throwing a hoodie on and feeling the chill. Let me stress: part of me.

A few things have been decided since we made our west coast road trip and cross-country drive back east. Most importantly where we will be settling down; Vegas, Baby! Woo! With the locations we visited, nothing compared to the feeling we felt while in Vegas. Not only is it a great travel hub, but the outdoor lifestyle you can live while there can be year round. Hiking, mountain biking, paddle boarding, and all things outdoors can be easily done 12 months a year, which is perfect for us.

We particularly loved Summerlin and the surrounding areas near Red Rock. Our hope is to rent a house somewhere around there which would make us 20 to 30 minutes from the strip. The common misconception about Vegas is that it’s all about the strip, which is unfortunate. Las Vegas has so much to offer and the strip is such a tiny part of what it’s all about.  We are excited to make this move and can’t WAIT to finally put our feet down somewhere we can call home.

Now, WHEN are we moving? That is still up in the air. It is proving to be extremely hard to job hunt from across the country, but moving out there with nothing lined up is terrifying to me. Do we spend our time on the east coast where family and friends are [and living is free] while looking for jobs remotely OR do we head to Vegas fingers crossed in hopes of landing a job quick and being available for immediate interviews. There are pros and cons to both options right now, which is making just about EVERY decision difficult.

You think I would be better at just going with the flow after doing so while out of the country, but this is totally different to me. Employment and the employer are both extremely important to me. I love to work, and I would love to find a job that I enjoy going to every day. I don’t want to just settle for a position to have a job, but would rather find something I’m passionate about… and that’s HARD when you don’t know the area or companies to look in to. It’s the main goal I’m sure for everyone to love what he or she does, but it’s hard to find that something when you are across the country. The struggle and the STRESS are real.

Woosa…

It’s funny how certain things can hit you different ways. I find myself extremely stressed about what is going to happen not remembering how lucky I am to be healthy and living with a roof over my head while trying to figure it all out. I should not be consumed by stress related to the job hunt, but thankful I am healthy and able to go to work. 

If this Ellen episode doesn’t make you tear up and be thankful… I don’t know what will.

Now wipe your eyes and be thankful. Hug your loved ones and know that even people going through the worst things imaginable still have the strength to smile. And this is where I tell myself to ‘MAN UP’.

Let’s bring it back up with two words: TED TALK!

Boo-ya! This little lady sent in an application with some Q’s and A’s and got picked to attend the Tedx Buffalo [independently organized TED event] event on October 14. Never heard of TED Talks? Do yourself a favor and visit: www.ted.com or better yet, watch my favorite and one of the first Ted Talks Below.  

Sir Ken Robinson: Do Schools Kill Creativity 

I love listening to this talk. You may agree, you may not- but it will get you thinking. This is the point. One of my favorite parts is “Frank sent this.” HAHA It makes me laugh every time.

I am so excited to attend this event and feel very lucky I was picked to be one of the 200 who will be in attendance. This has a little something to do with staying on the east coast as well. Once I got the email that I was picked, I REALLY didn’t want to miss out!

Keeping the motivational vibe rolling… here’s another good speech.

Alan Watts- What if Money Was No Object 

So. Good. Here’s a snip:

What would you like to do if money were no object? How would you really enjoy spending your life? Well, it’s so amazing as a result of our kind of educational system, crowds of students say well, we’d like to be painters, we’d like to be poets, we’d like to be writers, but as everybody knows you can’t earn any money that way. Or another person says well, I’d like to live an out-of-doors life and ride horses. I said you want to teach in a riding school? Let’s go through with it. What do you want to do? When we finally got down to something, which the individual says he really wants to do, I will say to him, you do that and forget the money, because, if you say that getting the money is the most important thing, you will spend your life completely wasting your time. You’ll be doing things you don’t like doing in order to go on living, that is to go on doing things you don’t like doing, which is stupid.

Give it a listen. It’s a shorter one but also gets you thinking. I love the message.

So as this was more of a blog rambling post than a photo update happy post, I always feel better when I write and can analyze WHY I’m feeing a certain way. This may not be as exciting, but writing this did exactly what I needed it to and for that I am thankful.

In short: Don’t Worry, Be Happy.

Las Vegas, Nevada

Coming Home, Road Tripping on the West Coast, and Riding the Emotional Roller Coaster Called Life

WHAT HAS BEEN HAPPENING

I can’t believe this is the first blog I’m sitting down to write since we landed back in the US. Emotions and plans start snowballing and you lose track of time and all the things you are “going to do tomorrow”. But as I sit here in Ashland, Oregon- I finally have a moment to breath. Woosaaaa…

Once we arrived in Buffalo after a long 19 hours of flights, we were greeted with balloons and hugs from my parents- much needed! Spending two weeks in Buffalo turned in to almost a month with some time spent in Fredonia to see our good friends Chuckie and Kari. We went boating, fishing, four wheeling and target shooting, all in one weekend. It was a BLAST.

After a month we were finally off to the west coast, as planned. Two checked bags each and a one-way ticket to Sacramento; we were ready to figure life out! 

Side note- check out that handsome man below with a face you can see!! Bye bye beard...for now. 

Our plans west had a lot to do with our mutual friend Brad. Adam has known Brad since he was 15 years old and I met Brad when I purchased the house next to him in 2009. As you could probably guess, Brad is how we met so we owe a lot to him for that. :)

Brad wanted his vehicle moved from Sacramento back to where he was residing in Oregon. Seeing that we had no real plans, we agreed to fly into Sacramento and do this for him, as it would also provide us a vehicle- perfect! 

Once we arrived in Sacramento, plans changed again. I think I have gotten PRETTY GOOD at going with the flow as I used to get SO incredibly stressed out with planning things and dealing with changes. Brad’s mom needed help moving her things out of a storage unit that was located in Carlsbad California, near San Diego. SO guess where we were headed.

We drove from Sacramento to Carlsbad [about an 8 to 9 hour drive] and helped his mother for the next two days organizing and cleaning out her storage unit.

We then were going to make our way back up to Oregon to bring Brad’s vehicle home. With all of the wild fires happening and the earthquake hitting Northern California, we made the decision to detour to Las Vegas and make our way up to Oregon through Reno.

We spent two nights in Vegas catching up with friends and exploring around areas we may want to live. We spent the second day hiking around Red Rock Canyon and had an AMAZING dinner at India Palace- discounted thanks to Restaurant.com. Ha!

It was a FAST two days but we will be back to Vegas and it may be possibly to live.

We left Vegas and made our way to Ashland, Oregon [13.5 hour drive] where we are now. Saw wild donkeys, rams, and incredible views along the way. 

The plan is to explore around here and the Portland area to see if this may be where we want to settle down.

EMOTIONAL ROLLER COASTER

So bringing us from when we arrived back in the US to now, I couldn’t even begin to explain the emotions that have taken over. In a way, it was just as much of a culture shock coming back home as it was entering a country I have never been to before. During the 6+ months of traveling, I have seen so much and experienced so many different things it’s hard to keep track. But the hardest thing that I have to remember and continue to tell myself is: no one cares about what you just did as much as you do.

Why doesn’t everyone want to go through all 5,000 photos with us? I mean, that answer may be a little obvious but its something you can’t let yourself forget. This was MY journey. I decided to travel for MYSELF because I needed something more. I needed to figure things out. People always talk about leaving, but what about coming home?

There was an article written about this and I couldn’t have said it better myself. It was posted the week we were coming home and it made so much sense. Read it here: The Hardest Part of Traveling No One Talks About.

Here’s a small excerpt:

“…Part of you is screaming don’t you understand how much I have changed? The way your dreams have changed, the way you perceive people differently, the habits you’re happy you lost, the new things that are important to you. You want everyone to recognize this and you want to share and discuss it, but there’s no way to describe the way your spirit evolves when you leave everything you know behind and force yourself to use your brain in a real capacity, not on a written test in school. You know you’re thinking differently because you experience it every second of every day inside your head, but how do you communicate that to others?

You feel angry. You feel lost. You have moments where you feel like it wasn’t worth it because nothing has changed but then you feel like it’s the only thing you’ve done that is important because it changed everything. What is the solution to this side of traveling? It’s like learning a foreign language that no one around you speaks so there is no way to communicate to them how you really feel.” 

It just makes so much sense. You experience so much and just can’t seem to put words to it. But internally, you know what you did, what you saw, and the countless of things you have learned along the way…and to me, that’s enough.

Adding to the emotional roller coaster is the constant reminder from my bank account that I need to GET A JOB. Quite obvious, but it isn’t that easy. With spending hours critiquing my resume and searching for opportunities all around the west coast, I have to remember that although it may take some time, I will not settle for something I’m not excited about.

Being gone for so long you learn to cherish each day and realize that staying stuck in something that makes you unhappy is only the fault of your own- job, life, anything. I will continue to search for opportunities but will not just settle for the reason only to have a job. I want to find something that motivates me. Something that drives me to wake up every morning with the excitement to go to work.

HAVING SAID THAT- for someone who has worked since the age of 14 and almost ALWAYS had 2 jobs at a time, I feel like I’m slightly going crazy. What I said above is true, but not having work is not in my DNA. Before we left in January, I had a full time job Monday-Friday and worked in a fine dining restaurant on Saturdays. I love it. I love to be busy and keeping the restaurant job took me away from sitting behind a desk and allowed face-to-face interaction. There also is nothing like working in a restaurant. You aren’t co-workers, you are a family. I believe that you work 10x harder when the environment you work in is a positive one and the team you work with is a cohesive one.

I hope once I do find the job that settles me somewhere on the west coast that it is a place where positive communication and unity is important. I am eager as I see all different opportunities on the west coast and have faith I will find the perfect fit.

That’s all for now from sunny Oregon. I will be working to update the content and photos on HauserBautz.com with new goodies from the trip.

Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop.