Changes

Well, a lot has been going here over the last several  months of not writing. However, it feels like the time for me to pick up the fallen pieces and start posting again. The summer has been highlighted by changes of all sorts.

To begin with, the past several months have been very challenging for Noah and I and we are currently separated. He moved out the first part of August but is still here in Asheville. In short, we still love and care about one another deeply but are taking some time and space to gain perspective on our marriage and the ways that we both, as individuals, fit into it.

A second major change is that my sister has moved out to Asheville and has taken up residence as my new roommate! She has been here since the first of September and it is impossible to explain with words how wonderful it is to have here. I flew home the end of August for a four day visit and then she and I drove out here to together in an uneventful (yet somehow epic) journey through the heartland. She also brought her cat, Pickle, with her and we have already spent much time laughing at the uniquely cat-ish antics of Buddy and Pickle as the learn how to share the house.

I'm not sure if this counts as a change, but it feels like one: So, summer is over--fall officially starts on Thursday I believe--but...it's not winter yet! Rather, we are on the verge of "leaf season" here which officially counts as a second tourist season. There is a leaf watching hotline, websites with fall foliage updates, vacation packages and more. I am SO excited on a variety of fronts for October's leaf season these days.

Many of the other changes I have briefly mentioned in other short blog posts before this one. But a short re-cap: I now live within the Asheville city limits in a great condo complex with a view and a swimming pool and quick and easy access to the interstate i.e. it is 10-15 minutes only to get most anywhere in Asheville. Obviously, I have opened up a private massage practice which is going well, albeit it slowly (primarily because I have been working so much elsewhere). I am on the verge of taking my North Carolina driver's test and switching my plates to North Carolina which will be the first time in the history of my life that my car will not have Idaho plates. (My mother firmly told me recently that I am NO LONGER allowed to vote in Teton County because I have "picked up and moved to North Carolina" (or something like that). Changing voting registration is also a new sign of permanence.)

All in all, things are going well. Some days life seems to be bordering on the chaotic and has been consistently ever-changing and unpredictable. However, patience has been a lesson of the summer and I would say I am growing more capable of dealing with and living life in the grey areas where everything isn't always black and white. I do hope there is some sort of slow-down to the pace of life in the relatively near future, but assume I will keep moving full speed ahead regardless.

To everyone who reads this blog

As my name is entering the public sphere as a massage therapist, I am working on ways to keep my private life separate from my public identity. I don't really want clients to be able to look my name up and find this blog (which is a fairly detailed accounting of my personal life for friends and family etc), read it and then end up knowing a lot about me that I have not personally chosen to share with them.

So...what that means is that I am going to be making this blog a "private" blog that will require those of you who read it to log in before being able to see everything. I create the list of authorized users, so I need you to let me know if you want to be added! Will you please either post a comment to this post with your info or send me an e-mail at marthakmart@gmail.com so I can get it plugged in correctly?

Making it Official!

Starting August 1st I will be working as a massage therapist in my own office space! A friend of mine from school, Suzanne, and I are renting a space in West Asheville together. The room is located on the second floor of an old house that has a community acupuncture clinic on the lower level. We are both very excited about it. I am in the process of business cards and a website and all of the logistics, which is a little overwhelming, but overall, the whole thing has sort of just fallen into place.

I am working five nights a week at Mela, serving most nights and am doing a couple days a week at the Cosmic Groove Massage. I will continue serving for awhile and will keep my shifts for at least another month or so at the Cosmic Groove, but am actually on the path to realizing the goal/reality of being a therapist!

Now An Officially Licensed Therapist!

I just checked online this morning for the umpteenth time and low and behold I am listed as a licensed therapist number 10157!!! I'm so thrilled I'm not sure what to do with myself at this moment but am now able to start doing what I set out to do 7 months ago!!

My New Home

It is wonderful being in Asheville. I love the place we have moved into. It is very central, but manages to feel a bit like we are still in the woods. We have an incredible view, which is hard to get around here, and, although you can hear the interstate when outside, you can see very few signs of the city around the corner from anywhere in the development.

I am enjoying the lightening bugs in the evenings that are all over the place, the swimming pool (which is busier than I thought it would be), the location, and even the air conditioning because it has been hotter than usual the last week or so. Our condo overlooks the swimming pool, so sitting out on the porch I can watch my own personal little soap opera as residents come and go. One of my favorite things to witness from the porch is the black cat from a few condos over taking his owner and dog friend for a walk just after 6 am every morning. It never ceases to bring a smile to my face when I see the dog and the owner out for the morning walk with the cat walking right along with them...

I still do not have my license yet and am playing the wait, wait, and wait some more game. I have started working at an Indian restaurant downtown called Mela Indian Restaurant as a host, food expo and soon to be night server. Additionally, I have started picking up desk hours at a local community based non-profit massage center called the Cosmic Groove Massage and will hopefully be able to work a few massage shifts there once I get my license.

Asheville is starting to feel more and more like home, especially since we are now living within the city limits. It surprises me sometime when I realize that, for the first time in perhaps my life, I am in a place that I don't want to leave and where I actually enjoy being nearly all of the time. I am comfortable putting down some sort of permanent roots here and staying. This is a new and wonderful feeling. The only thing I would change is how far away from home Asheville is...but, no place is perfect and, for now, I am more than happy to be here.

Quicky

So, May has flown by. I am taking my Nationals this afternoon at 12:15 (I'll know if I passed right afterwords). I have my last class at school tomorrow and take my school test Wednesday morning with graduation Wednesday afternoon. To top it all off, I don't believe I've mentioned yet that we are moving on Saturday to a location closer to Asheville (yeah, moving on my birthday-yay...). We found someone to cover the rest of our lease here and found a condo to rent in town that will work great for us. (Big plus, there is a tennis court and swimming pool at the complex which is at the end of dead end road. The balcony even has a view and all you can see is trees, we lucked out). Anyway, just a quick update there so that I don't stop updating all together....

The Fun and Crazy Month of May

Talk about a lot of crossroads coming together in the next month or so!!!

The two weeks (or was it three?) between my parent's visit and my sister's arrival this coming Tuesday has literally slipped through our fingers. The end of school is so close that I can practically taste it. I have scheduled to take my national exam on May 24 and will take my final exam at school and graduate on May 26. If all goes as planned, the license application will then be in the mail on the 27th and-hopefully-I will be able to start practicing 30 days later! Wow.

Noah's aunt and uncle stopped by this week for a quick overnight visit on their way down to Florida for a vacation. It was good to see them and has been fun having visitors. As I mentioned, my sister will be arriving this coming week and will be here for 10 days, which will be a blast. Among all the visiting I am somehow finding time to study, study, study for my national test...

Noah regular schedule at the new Pack's Tavern in Asheville has set in and we are both adjusting to the odd schedule. He is working from 9 pm-2 am 4-5 nights a week and going into the office a little later in the morning and staying through the evening. Other than the schedule, the job is pretty easy and even a tad boring (he is a doorman, but the place is more of a restaurant than anything else), which is nice. Plus, the paycheck feels wonderful to both of us. As has been the story of the last several weeks, he seems to be right on the edge of a few placements daily, but nothing has landed home yet. May is a lucky month (I was born :)), so I am feeling optimistic about a few of the almosts becoming for sures over the next couple of weeks.

Among working, studying, playing a little tennis, enjoying the sunshine, studying, and playing with visitors we have started looking into the possibility of moving into Asheville sometime in the next couple of months once I am done with school (before our lease is up). We have actually found someone who wants to take over our lease in Mars Hill and the last week or so has consisted of me spending a lot of time scanning craigslist and the classifieds for potential new homes that are in Asheville, closer and more convenient to where most of our life is becoming centered. It is fun and exhausting. We went a looked at a bunch of places yesterday and saw a few we liked, but are not quite in a place to make a final decision just yet. I am not sure how it is or will all fit in over the next couple of months, but I know everything will somehow manage to.

We are loving the weather and the area as we move further away from winter, it is definitely beautiful here and the temperatures are agreeing with us quite well. As of now, it seems like the perfect place for us to call home for the near future, which feels sort of crazy saying. I mean, it's been years since I have spent more than 8 months in the same place! But, I think we both feel good about grounding ourselves here for the next while as we continue to work on moving forward and growing to where ever it is we are heading.