Laughter & Wanderlust: 2012

I have been job hunting for three months now. The luxury of receiving unemployment has given me the ability to search for a job that I'm really excited about...I don't have to settle for a job in sales or waitressing. However, going from sixteen years of full-time school, straight into nearly three years of full-time work, to nothing...that has been a transition I never could have prepared myself for.

I feel so spoiled complaining about having too much free time, but it is the bane of my existence. As much as I would, in theory, love to be living the "funemployment" lifestyle, it's hard for me to motivate to do daytime activities during the week without anyone to share them with. On top of that, I've fallen victim to Newton's laws of physics: objects in motion stay in motion; objects at rest stay at rest.

The more I’m doing, the more I’m juggling, the bigger my to-do list, the more productive and efficient I’m able to be. "The longer you have, the longer it takes". Any other applicable cliché. The less I do, the less I want to do or can bring myself to do. But I’ve always been happiest when I’m busy…when the days fly by, I’m able to check of pages worth of to-dos, and I can see the direct results of my work. So how can I create that environment for myself without the structure of a job in place?

As I continue to struggle with this question, I've made a few goals for myself. I want to start making a bucket list for ever season, and make it my mission to complete it. Maybe it’s just five things. But even after nearly three years living in Los Angeles, there are so many things I’ve never done; things I’ve been wanting to do since I moved here and have never brought myself to do. I want to be a doer. Being stagnant is the worst way to be, and I’ve fallen into that rut too frequently over the past few months. I don’t like being that person.

If I can’t afford to travel out of my own city, I should be a tourist within it. Or even better, be a local within it, taking advantage of all that Los Angeles has to offer. Try new restaurants. Visit museums. Go to events. Volunteer. There is no reason to stay home when there is so much to do. I’m the only one to blame for my rut. I saw a sign today that read: "You're not bored. You're boring." Touché.

Here is my kick-off bucket list for Spring:

{Hike to the Hollywood sign}

{Go to the Rose Bowl Flea Market, which takes place on the 2nd Sunday of every month. Tell me you don't covet this wall of cowboy boots!}

{Go see “Transmission LA: AV CLUB curated by Mike D,” taking place at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA}

{Craft a way to better organize my jewelry - via salvagelove.net}

{Run a marathon in under 5 hours. I've been training for Avenue of the Giants, a run through the Redwood Forest in Northern California. I ran my first marathon in 5:12.}

Moving to Echo Park was an accident. A friend of my friend's cousin (removed, much?) had a room open in his house and I was desperate, having just packed my entire life into my Mazda Protege and driven down to LA from Oregon without a place to live. I was starting a new job in a week, and as any relationship with my new roommates seemed better than moving in with complete strangers, I found myself as the proud owner of a room in the hills between Echo Park and Chinatown.

Three years and four apartments later, I'm still here, and looking back on photos from those first few months, I'm reminded of all the reasons I love this neighborhood: the view of Downtown at night, Sunday walks to Dodger Stadium, runs around Echo Park Lake, my neighbors beautiful garden, hikes to the Hollywood sign. I just can't seem to bring myself to leave.