Daughter of the Forest...In a Place without Trees

[Location: Arctic Circle...naturally.]

[Warning: long post ahead...I have a year to catch you up on!]

Blog Writing Fail: I disappeared.

I really did. It dawned on me this morning as I was posting pictures to a different blog that this one had been seriously neglected. It's been almost an entire year that i've dropped off the blog-o-sphere. Not that I was ever considered a serious blogger anyway, but it is an easy and fun way to keep people I love who are all over the place updated on the things going on. The added benefit being those updates happen without resorting to the ever more cluttered Book of Faces.

The last year has practically flown by. I believe the last time I wrote I had just settled into the newly renovated basement apt of my folks house in Dalton. Being the restless girl that I am, it was only about 4 months or so before I moved back out again and on to new adventures. I was spending most of my time off of work travelling to see someone, so I thought...heck...why travel? Just move! I've done that a couple times before! Piece of cake.

So. I moved. Where you ask? Where would a girl who loves her trees and mountains of Alaska and Idaho move to? The midwest. Ha. South Dakota to be exact....the flat, treeless part on the eastern side. Please note: I obviously did not move there for it's landscape or job potential. I've always asserted that it's the people that make places awesome, and SD has wonderful people all over. I have never met people so welcoming and down to earth, aside from my apartment manager...but that's a story for another day!

Where was I? Oh yes...moving to the treeless, flat, SD plains and how easy it was going to be.

I decided to move in October...but wasn't going to be able to get into the apartment I found until January. My brilliant thought was to take the essentials down/over before and put them in storage. The rest of my stuff was already in storage in ID and could easily remain there until spring.  So in my newly acquired pickup, I packed stuff up with the help of my family and soon there was driver room only. We covered everything up super well with multiple tarps and tied them down aggressively and I started off on my 1150 mile drive. I was jazzed. Trip wasn't too far and i'd be there in no time!


Okay...trivia moment. How many of you remember that freak blizzard that they had last year at the beginning of October where there was snow everywhere and a million (or..so) cows loose?  No, I didn't get caught in that...but because of the cows, the roads through SD were closed, so I drove the longest, most straight, most BORING drive though ND to reach my destination. This is important, because it started raining about 100 miles out of Idaho and didn't let up until I was in Bismark, and there are very few gas stations! Due to this...I had to stop like every hour and re-tighten/tie (and buy new!) my sad and tattered tarps down. Longest 1100  miles I have ever driven, but I got there, unloaded things with the help of my boyfriend, and took a couple months off from moving.

For all you future travelers though, the above picture...don't. Just...pay a moving company, or bribe your Dad.   (Hey! It worked for me!)  My dad is great and eventually made that same drive by himself, in the snow, in January, with a u-haul and all my furniture. All for a ticket back to work because he loves me! I'm not a completely horrible person...I hired people to help my dad load the u-haul okay!? :) I also helped unload...even if my dad, boyfriend and his brother did most of the heavy lifting. Even all this time later...MANY THANKS! My apartment is on the 2nd floor...and I have a lot of heavy things...like ...books...and solid wood furniture. For the purpose of this tale, however, it means it's Jan. 2014 and i'm all moved in to a cozy 2 bedroom apt in a small SD town.

In February I had Emma Misener (from All Aboard Wheat Harvest) out to visit/help me settle into my new home. We hung photos and relaxed and had some seriously great girl time.

My two weeks home in March was pretty low key. Hung out with Vince and his family and enjoyed some good book reading time.

April- I finally went and got my car! I had been pining after it all winter long as I repeatedly filled my truck gas tank 3 times as much as my car and for a lot more each time. I flew to ID, saw the family for a day, and turned around and drove that 1100 miles again...but through SD this time! Again...all you future travelers...avoid driving through reservations in the middle of the night. Stick to the interstate...even if it adds an hour. Enough said. I also had the wonderful Marie to visit in April and we did wonderful things like drink coffee with chocolate croissants and search out fun places in Fargo, ND/Moorehead, MN so she could effectively cross those states off her "state's visited" list. It was tons of fun.

Most of May I was at work doing a 3x3 shift so that I could attend the beautiful Nicole & Shaun and Sarah and Daniel weddings respectively. We did 2 weddings in 2 weeks at the end of May/beginning of June and Vince and I (and our lovely friend Sarah S.) had fun driving and attending both!

I only had a week off between shifts at the end of July, so I bought a cheap ticket to visit the family in Idaho, since the last time I had barely had time to eat and sleep before I was gone again, much less hang out! We had a great time going hiking, hanging out at the lake, and because we're us...we also spent time tiling and painting. Yay home improvements!

Last but not least, I was able to be home for my birthday this year! Barely, but still! It was fun, as the Misener clan was staying at my apt. while they were cutting in the area so I was able to do a yearly ride in the combine before they were finished. It was great to have people around and I got some great cooking tips from Mama K (Emma and Dan's mom) while they were there. I spent the day of my birthday at the salon and then headed up to another wedding, this time in Fargo. All in all, quite a lovely day for the first birthday i've been home in 4 years.

That brings us to September! The current month! Success! So much more has happened that I haven't mentioned in the 'highlights', but i'm going to get back into the grove of this. I am! Hopefully from here on out, I can spend this much writing space detailing one portion of time instead of a year. :) More detail is better!

For now, that's all she wrote. Enjoy your day! Read a book. :)

Book of the Day:

If you enjoy a good fantasy novel without too much of what I call "sketch", then you may enjoy Daughter of the Forest, the first book in the Sevenwaters sequence by Juliet Mariller! You can find it on Goodreads at the link below. 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13928.Daughter_of_the_Forest

Fantasy Genre Definition:

Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary plot element, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic and magical creatures are common. Fantasy is generally distinguished from the genres ofscience fiction and horror by the expectation that it steers clear of scientific and macabre themes, respectively, though there is a great deal of overlap between the three, all of which are sub-genres of speculative fiction.

In popular culture, the fantasy genre is predominantly of the medievalist form, especially since the worldwide success of The Lord of the Rings and related books by J. R. R. Tolkien. In its broadest sense, however, fantasy comprises works by many writers, artists, filmmakers, and musicians, from ancient myths and legends to many recent works embraced by a wide audience today