My Mission to Fulfill My Dreams

Well, I think this speaks for itself.  After last year’s abismal failure, this feels pretty damn good I have to say!

As it is the biggest travel day of the year, I think it’s time to say “Happy Thanksgiving” to everyone and hope that you all have a spledid holiday. 

Pete and I will be spending this holiday in DeKalb with Macy and Lovie.  Pete ended up having to work on Friday, so there really wasn’t any possible way to get back to the Detroit area without traveling for 12 hours straight.  So instead, we opted for the quiet day together staying in, watching movies, and eating food until we can’t take it anymore.  We grabbed our groceries last night and our menu includes french toast, bacon, and raspberries for breakfast, boneless buffalo wings for an afternoon snack, and broiled lobster tails with butter for dinner with sausage dressing and mini green bean cassarole on the side.  For dessert, fresh baked chocolate chip cookies with milk.  I’m going to pull out a few dvd’s to watch later, and Dan’s stopping by for lunch on his way back to Grand Rapids.  So it’ll be a pretty nice day around here.

The job hunt is still on unfortunately.  My job application for Northern Illinois University never really panned out, but I’m keeping my eyes out for more options there.  I haven’t given up just yet and besides, I might have more luck once I start there for grad school.

One thing that has been going quite well for me is…

I’m just short of 40,000 words and I have until Monday night to get to 50,000!  Writing is one thing I haven’t been serious about in a long time and it was killing me!  I love writing!  I want to do it for the rest of my life even!  So to be able to get back up and do it has just been heaven for me. 

The group of fellow WriMo’s in DeKalb has been such a great support to me and I can’t wait to get together at the Thank God It’s Over party in December.  Mom will be in town then too, so her and Peter will get to meet all of my new friends.

Well, it’s a short post, but I better get cracking on today’s events.  These words aren’t going to write themselves ya know!  Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

As of late, it seems have dramatically begun to slow down.  I, as someone who is used to being busy most days, am not a fan of this.  It really started to hit when the Daylight Savings Time changed back so that it would get dark an hour earlier.  I have never been a fan of that and I wish they would just do away with that rule already!

As for today?  My sinuses began to drain yesterday, so as a result, I’m pretty out of it and plan to stay home, watch movies in bed, and be curled up with my kitty and my NaNoWriMo writing to catch up on.

I’ve actually been a bit far behind on it for the past week.  I haven’t even been keeping up with my NaNoMeter that’s posted up on my cork board.  I need to make good use of this more.  My goal is with all of my free time and laying around today, I’ll be able to fill up my goal bar past 25,000, which is where I should be.  Instead, I’m just over 17,000 and I need to get going on that thing.

Okay.  Breakfast, a dose of medicine, and a hot shower are in order.  I hate feeling like crap, but maybe a day of rest like this will do me good.

And if you’re interested in checking out my NaNo page and seeing how I’m doing on my word count, reading a bit about me, and read an excerpt from my novel, here’s the main page! http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/220859

I took a few days to head back to Detroit last week.  I stayed with Mom and Dad at their place and did a run back and forth to clean out the house in Farmington Hills and give it a decent scrub down.  I packed my car with basically anything else we needed and I’m pretty set with what we have in DeKalb now.

It was nice to have a few days with Mom and Dad and sit with them so it didn’t seem like I was bolting out of the state right off again.  Mom and I had a nice dinner one night and went out shopping for my bridal shower dress (which I am absolutely in love with)!  Then one night we went out to see The Men That Stare at Goats. The movie was hilarious and I went to go see it again with Peter.

As for home, it’s business (and busy) as usual.  I have a few applications that I’m taking care of and turning in today.  Then there is more writing for NaNoWriMo to be done.  I’m just under 10,000 words and I still have to get some catch up done!  I may have to take Peter’s computer and go to a cafe and just write like crazy for the afternoon.

O, and when I have time left, I have cleaning and still, more unpacking, to do at the house.  I’m hoping to finish this week as I can not take it much longer anymore!

But overall, all is well, and I’m still enjoying my life out here in DeKalb.  We’re hoping to check out the city this weekend and I can’t wait for our adventure!

I’m hoping later today to do a nice photo post of life out here as of late.  I tried to get a few photos yesterday as I went job hunting and picking Pete up from work, but it was kind of difficult with carrying around job applications in one hand and the sun setting.  Got a nice photo of the full moon rising though as I was in the newest part of town.  It was so big!  So anyways, that’s one of my projects for today.

I want to pick up a few more apps, turn in some, and check out some of the old part of town by the university.  Northern Illinois University to be exact.  The campus reminds me a lot of Western Michigan University, where I did my undergrad.  I’m hoping to attend NIU for my Masters, but that probably will not happen until a year from now.  I picked up some stuff from the DeKalb Public Library yesterday to study up for the GRE.  It’s nothing pressing for the moment, but it’ll be nice to see what I’ll be getting into.

In other news, NaNoWriMo (or National Novel Writing Month) officially kicked off on Sunday and my word count is already up to over 3,000 words.  My goal for tonight is to get up over 5,000 and I will be right on target to finish at the end of the month on goal.  This will hopefully also mean the completion of the first draft of this novel that I’ve been working on for the past three years.  Here’s hoping.

NaNoWriMo also helped me to come out of my shell with the move.  Moving to DeKalb meant leaving behind a lot of friends.  Dan lives a half hour away in Rockford, but in DeKalb itself I have no friends or acquaintances.  But thanks to the miracle of the NaNo website, I was able to find out that DeKalb has a writing group that’s pretty dedicated to the crazy month and actively meet every Sunday.  I ended up going on the 1st to Barnes & Noble for their Write-In and I got to meet a very nice and welcoming group of people.  I will definitely be attending again this Sunday and I’m hoping to make some great friends.

For now, it’s business as usual and it’s time for me to get going for the day.  I have a lot to get accomplished.

HAPPY BELATED HALLOWEEN!!

And also on that note, happy NaNoWriMo kick off!  I’m pretty excited for NaNo this year for a few reasons.  Get ready for the list…

1. After my abysmal attempt last year (I think it was three pages), I am determined to make an effort and finish off my novel with this second half of Lore: the Legend of River and the Fourth Creation.
2. This will give me something to work on in between unpacking (yes, still), looking for a part time job in DeKalb, and the et ceteras which include wedding planning and finding resources to study for the GRE.
3. DeKalb apparently has a pretty tight knit writing group which not only meets every Sunday in November, but every Sunday period. So this will be great for me in helping with the following… A. Meet new people and make some friends in the area.  B. Get my butt in gear and stick to writing every week without fail!

I have my No Plot? No Problem! kit out and in full use.  My word count chart and affidavit are up on my cork board in full view, and I have my gold stars and such ready for when I start making my goals, which will of course begin this afternoon.  I still have to print out the first half of my novel which I have stored in a G-mail account, but it would be nice to read it out on paper.

As for the move in so far, it’s going well.  I have to say that the house has grown on me.

It’s not the greatest place ever, but for a six month to year lease, it will do.  I think it just needs a nice scrub down and fresh coat of paint once everything is organized.  Despite the size of the bedrooms, it does have a nice layout, so I will give it that.  And there’s a basement (unfinished) where we can store boxes and such for later.

The one thing I can’t get around however is that the one bathroom we have in this house is an absolute piece.  It’s so outdated and craptastic that the only way that it could be spruced up fully is if it was gutted.  But since I know that’s not going to happen, I will just have to deal.  And like my Dad said…all I do in there is brush my teeth and s*** anyways, so what’s the big deal?

All in all, it’s not too bad so far.  In the next couple of days, I will have progress on NaNoWriMo, some pics of the house all unpacked and nice, and some news from about town and my favorite spots to hang out.

We have arrived in DeKalb and we are unpacked…well, sorta.  Most of our essentials are all out and in place.  But there are still tons of boxes out just waiting for me to tackle them.  That will be one of my big projects for the day.

In about a half hour I’ll have to drop Peter off at his first day at work at the DeKalb Daily Chronicle.  He’s excited, but understandably a little nervous.

My plan for the day will be to unpack the rest of this place, get our grand load of groceries, and do a Target run to get a couple pieces of furniture that we are in need of for the moment.  it’ll be busy, but Lovie and Macy, our cat and dog, will keep me company and on my toes through the whole thing.

On your mark, get set, go!

Well, the day is here and we’re off to fulfill our dreams.  The house is packed, the U Haul is loaded, and in a few hours will be hitting the road for Illinois.

I am excited and a bit pensive.  I thought we would be spending a few more years in this house for all of the work we put into it.  One year just doesn’t seem enough, so it sucks saying goodbye to our beautiful red living room, my recently redecorated office, and our too small, disorganized kitchen.  But fate and the economy are like that and it’s time to start over.

I am looking forward to a new start though.  For the both of us!  Pete starts his new job on Wednesday and I’ll be in charge of the organization and the unpacking.  I had my last day at my optical job on Friday and it was sad to leave some of those familiar faces.  But a new future awaits for me in the form of a part time job, studying for the GRE and ultimately heading back to grad school.  Add in the fact that our wedding is approaching in a few months, and this next year will prove to be CRAZY!!

I know my Mom is taking this move hard.  She is going to miss me more than I could understand, and I hope she does okay.  I wonder if she realizes that I worry about her just as much as she worries about me.  But we’ll both settle down and get back to normal soon.  And she can always come out to visit and the door is always open.

Well, it’s that time.  Time to say goodbye to the internet for a few days, pack up the rest of our possessions, put Lovie in his cage, and make that grand trek from Detroit to Chicago.

My name is Adrianne.  I am 26 years old and female.  My fiance’s name is Peter and we are moving to Illinois.

I’ve have grown up with one dream in life: to be a writer.  I remember writing little scraps of plots and characters when I was in the fourth grade and there were soon followed by sketches which over time, never really developed the way I had hoped them to.  I continued to develope my skills through schooling (most of which was through the Metro Detroit Catholic school system) and I eventually began to formulate my plans for future greatness in the writing community.

I planned to attend Western Michigan University and upon completion, I would move to the big city of NYC, and live la vie boheme on a mission to be published.  It was beautiful.  It was simple.  It was flawless.  It was exciting.

…then reality hit.

In the spring of my senior year, mere weeks before my graduation, I landed in the hospital and was given the diagnosis of severe Crohn’s Disease.  I was no longer allowed to go where I wish and do what I please.  Insurance to get the medication was the key and I needed full time work to support this.  The dream was crushed and I was forced to settle in Michigan.

It was at this point that I learned that society has rules and I would have to learn to do one of two things:  I could either abide by them and feel miserable in the flow of the rat race for the rest of my life, or I could cheat a bit and try to grab hold of my dreams once again.

Well, I’ve been following the rules of society for the past three years since graduation and I’m miserable.  Peter and I have a chance for a change, thanks to the economy having him laid off in April, and we are going to take it.  I can reopen my dreams and rethink society, consider it as the challenge and the enemy rather than a rule book.  Above all, I’m going to fulfill my one big wish…I want to be happy.

With Pete being hired to a new job in Illinois, we are moving to the Chicago suburbs and getting set to start a new life together.  This will be a blog of our move and these next few years as we live through the following…

• getting married
• going back to school
• becoming an English teacher
• getting published

I have 365 days and I wan to see how far I can get.  Game on!