friday funday

The other day after work I decided that instead of heading home to loll on my bed and watch Netflix, I would instead take my camera and a change of clothes to work and head out to explore North Beach. North Beach is sort of...sketch, but it's still very touristy so there are all kinds of exciting buildings, objects, and people to view and photograph. My adventure was filled with explorations, frolicking in the water, people-watching, and alcoholic cherry limeades from my favorite beach bar.

• I walked out to the edge of a jetty outside the aquarium and snapped this perfect photo of a pelican resting on a buoy
• The edge of the jetty
• Decorated fences
• Corpus Christi is a big spring break destination. All of Texas goes on spring break at the same time and this last week was that special period of time before the summer that Wild Flight is really slammed
• For some reason I really liked this sign. I love the charm of a nice beach restaurant or bar
• Silhouettes of the aquarium and the Harbor Bay Bridge. Plus a lot of gulls

• A cormorant emerging from the water
• Spring Break boating
• A real live landshark! Candygram...
• Laughing Gulls
• Bonding with the Atlantic
• There were people who had parachuted/parasailed or something over the water because they were in wetsuits and attempting to pack away their chutes in the intense wind. It was sort of hilarious

• The beach bar/restaurant. Did I mention that they also serve delicious nachos?
• A giant game of Jenga out on the deck of Fajitaville
• My view from the bar deck. As I watched kids playing on the beach, gulls erupting from the sand, and the sun glimmering over the water, Pharrel's song "Happy" came on. I smiled
• Birds
• Take-off
• Sinking in my roots

• North Beach has some amazing picnic spots. They're stationed almost right next to the water and are incredibly high up off the ground so if the tide comes in, your feet don't get wet unless you want them to
• An amazing view
• I drew a heart in the sand
• I love this feeling
• One great thing I've noticed about Texas is the colorful buildings
• Blue walls plus fairy lights equals an amazing restaurant, in my opinion

• I saw these apartments and immediately started compiling a story about them in my mind. A story about someone who lives there
• The U.S.S. Lexington is right next to the aquarium
• Ocean spray
• Little pelican friend
• The beautiful sunrise on my second day of work
• On my walk along the jetty I saw this woman holding her dog and gazing out over the sea. I asked her if I could take her picture with her holding her dog, since I thought it was so cute. I haven't asked to take a stranger's picture since Minnesota!

It was an awesome exploration session, and since then I've done so many other fun, new things like (sort of) learned how to two-step, sunk a ball while playing pool, surprised people on the dance floor with my moves, had fog poured on me, drank too many dollar drinks, found a river sanctuary nearby my home (when I told my parents they said "don't go there! There might be weird people there!" woops, too late), gone to Geeks Who Drink trivia night at a local bar, failed miserably, went to a St. Patrick's Day block party and drank green beer, and of course am still getting used to my new job! Everything is new and exciting and exhausting and I am slowly getting accustomed to it. Today was my Friday (which is ironic since it's Monday) so I plan on using this weekend to get shit DONE, to sleep in, to explore, and to hopefully do a post filled with Iphone photos!

10 Things I Love

I have been at my new job for a whole week! And what a week it was. A great week, a week full of learning, and a week full of some bad luck, unfortunately :( I'm preparing another post filled with pictures and stories, but for now here is my list of ten things I'm loving right now.

1)

Happy Hour at Sonic



I live by a Sonic now and it is DANGEROUS. On days off (which luckily there have only been two so far), at around 2:30 I think, "oh it's happy hour now..." and then I end up getting a large cherry limeade. Occasionally I spike it with vodka. It's always delicious.

2)

Cable TV



Now I can come home from work and watch trash TV complete with commercials for background noise as I make dinner, browse the internet, and let the birds out for some playtime. I still watch Netflix a great deal, but when no one else is here it's awesome to be able to watch the Food Network or TLC or DANCE MOMS. Especially when it's with your new friend and especially when you have delicious, cheap mexican food to eat (aka sopapillas). Also CARTOON NETWORKKKK

3)

Making new friends



I was pretty lonely here for a little while. I'm still lonely here because it's only been a week, I miss my family and friends, my dogs and the mountains, but it's getting better. I'm making friends with my co-workers, connecting with other people, and joining meet-up groups. So far I've been to an ice-hockey game, discovered new great places to eat in the city, gone to a St. Patrick's Day block party where I drank green beer and saw downtown, and had a couple of chill move/TV nights where alcohol and mexican food was involved. Basically, I'm glad that I am making new connections :) Just like Girl Scouts taught me, "Make new friends, but keep the old."

4)

Franzia boxed wine



Ah, boxed wine. Don't turn your nose up at this precious commodity, pretentious wine snobs! It's affordable, transportable, and delicious! Memories of college, especially tailgating football games, explode in my senses as soon as I even see the box. One of my co-workers (friiiiend) invited me over for wine and trash TV (two of my favorite things) and when I saw the red boxed wine I was like OH MY GOD. We discussed the beloved game of "slap the bag" and I told her it was a damn good thing we had red spirit T-shirts for our school, as otherwise I would have had visible red wine stains all over my shirt as I attempted to guzzle wine during these games.

5)

Taking a tamandua for a walk



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A Tamandua is also known as a lesser anteater. Remember when I used to take my porcupine for walks? Now it's Mr. Wendell. He is incredibly slow and truly unwilling to take walks compared to Spikers, but we'll keep working with him and see as he feels as it becomes warmer and warmer. Just one of the perks of my amazing new job.

6)

Bonding with parrots



There are a couple of parrots at my new job, so I need to start building a relationship with them. People don't usually understand how sensitive birds are to their environment. If a bird doesn't know you, they're not going to work with you. They'll even respond poorly aka give you a fear response and possibly bite you. Instead of throwing me into the training and show routine, we're slowly working up to it and having me reinforce simple behaviors. For instance, if our green-winged macaw Zeppo remains calm and happy when I'm in his enclosure, when I leave I give him a piece of his food! It's fun!


7)

The Lego Movie



I went to The Lego Movie with my mom the day before she left (and I started my new job) and I thought it was HILARIOUS! Hilarious AND adorable! I really loved it; I'm glad I got to see it :)

8)

Nice insurance agents



Something TERRIBLE happened to me the very first day of work but luckily there was a REALLY REALLY NICE woman who helped me out when I called insurance about it. She was so nice and helpful, which was just what I needed. THANK YOU ANONYMOUS AMAZING INSURANCE AGENT LADY!!

9)

Discovering new places to eat



You know how sometimes you just discover someplace amazing to eat, and mostly it's because it's unknown and exciting and cute and has delicious food and also you are discovering it with someone you is really nice and cool and is your new friend? Oh well, that's what happened to me. My new friend and I went to check out this Mexican place that not only kindly told us they could give us take-out (since her dog was in the car), but was also incredibly affordable and super delicious. I got fajitas and sopapillas drizzled with chocolate sauce and bananas YUM!

10)

Game Grumps



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I just discovered these guys due to an animated video of them describing their progress in Pokemon Firered. Um, they are HILARIOUS. I like almost died last night as I watched it from the beginning. The good news is that you can even just listen to them and it's like a soothing/hilarious podcast about pokemon MY FAVORITE!

This week started out pretty crappy, but it has shaped up to be a really great first week! Making friends has of course helped, as I now have people to hang out with. Today was my "saturday" so I spent it doing some chores, grocery shopping with Tilt, a Skype date with my mama and brother, and then I made dinner with Elise! Tomorrow Jess and I are getting sushi for our boss'es birthday and then maybe explore some beaches (or do laundry...). YAY!

moving frenzy

1,454 miles and 25 hours later, I'm in my new home of Corpus Christi, TX.

My hair has exploded from my bun into minuscule, wild curls, the air is thick and heavy and my hands no longer feel cracked and in pain, and it smells like the ocean outside.

The birds are happy to be back in their cages for the night and will not settle down. My orientation for my new grown-up job is tomorrow. I also move into my new apartment. I'm nervous, but also excited.

(basically, 10 Things I Love Monday was cancelled due to life events)