Tag: California

The Golden Ticket

· Leave a comment ·

“Your head will collapse but there’s nothing in it and you’ll ask yourself, ‘Where is my mind?'” Where Is My Mind – Pixies

FullSizeRender

Something I have been waiting patiently for, came in the mail today. The flat parcel, addressed by the USPS, lay there waiting for me to open it and sure enough, as I suspect it was my PASSPORT! YAY!!  I’ve been waiting for that thing for forever it feels like. This dear passport gave me the privilege to cross into countries such as Germany in 2005 and Mexico in 2006. I had not needed my passport since then. Wouldn’t luck have it that ironically I would need my passport one month AFTER it had expired. So naturally I renewed it because…guess where we’re visiting while in WA? CANADA! I didn’t mention it before because I wasn’t sure if we would be going, and we’re still not positive but it’s a possibility. The thing I hate about getting a new passport is that I was attached to my old one. I wish they would have ripped out the pages that were stamped so that I might be able to have them as keepsakes to remember my travels 😦 I’m not too upset, though it would have been nice.

The passport really kicked my brain into, “ready mode”. In the midst of presenting the new project my students will be working on for the next 3 weeks (which by the way is an 8 page newsletter), I was suddenly jolted in to the reality that I only have FOUR WEEKS to go before we sail off into the sky (I’m referring to the plane of course). I’m just standing there and all of a sudden I’m somewhat stunned for a second, I lost track of my thoughts, but picked it back up a couple of seconds later. I know my students had to have thought I was a little, “out of it”. Then again, I’m sure they probably think that all the time *hehe*. For those brief seconds, images of my packing a large dark pink roller suitcase and flying Delta to Cali flashed in my head. My vision is somewhat the same each time: I think about getting excited about packing, then checking my luggage and then we’re sitting on the plane waiting for it to take off. Now, some may wonder why my vision is so narrowed. Well, I’ve learned that, for me, it’s best if I just let everything surprise me. If I think too much or build something up too much, I find it spoils things a bit for me (in a small way), so I like to keep the visions down a notch. But MAN! I am REALLY ready to go! It’s like a bucket of water you’re trying to gently and easily pour out, careful not to let the whole thing spill because it’s so heavy that your arms might give way, and then…

WHOOSH…too late. 🙂

Preparation is Important

· 2 Comments ·

“There ain’t a thing I’ve faced that’s been too much for me.” Inner Ninja – Classified, David Myles

Throughout my day, I have a lot of open area for my imagination to run wild and to meditate on current events as well as future goings on. So naturally the one thing that I am ALWAYS randomly thinking about is this trip! If you can remember back to when you were a child, you would anticipate Christmas day and what that would mean for you. For most people it was exciting and intense. The anticipation of what gifts you would get or maybe Santa Clause had brought some really amazing magical thing would overcome you and so life was barely tolerable until that moment. This is the same feeling I get when thinking about this trip, only it’s not as magnified due to my being an adult. *Enter in Debbie Downer sound effect*

To prepare for this trip, I have kept a checklist in my head and on paper of things I need to do before I leave. Some include:

  1. Showing the animal sitter how to administer flea medicine to my cat. (She’s got an attitude but super cute! You can follow her on Instagram @madamemouffette *the cat not the sitter*).
  2. Bathing my dog Lukkah.
  3. Preparing his sleeping quarters.
  4. Paying Bills.
  5. Going to the doctor.
  6. Exercising more.
  7. Contacting UNCG about educational matters.
  8. Paying a speeding ticket. Uhg!
  9. Shop for appropriate clothing.
  10. Making a list of what to pack for the trip.
  11. Ordering items for the trip: camping supplies, normal toiletries etc.

Some of these could be purchased or done on the trip. However I really feel more comfortable being prepared than having to do it later. A control thing? Maybe? A woman thing? Maybe. Either way it’s who I am.

I haven’t begun to imagine how to pack my bag. I really haven’t. But, the one thing I AM going to do before I leave is put my logo on my luggage! One thing I have noticed while traveling is that most everyone has the SAME luggage. This isn’t a new thing and people have taken lengths to try to distinguish their luggage from others. What better way to identify mine, than to put my logo on it. It’s a hard suitcase on rollers so I originally wanted to just take a Sharpie to the whole thing and do some creative design to it. Unfortunately I envision it getting worn off before I even get to California and frankly, as a designer I’m not interested in the end product becoming a mess, so I’m going to put my logo, in vinyl, on the suitcase. When I’m finished with it I will post a pic for you all to see!

I have some major concerns about specific things when I go on this trip, though I will save that for tomorrow.

If you all can think of some helpful tips on how to prepare for a two month trip, PLEASE let me know! I’d love to be as prepared as possible! 🙂

-Heather

Introduction

· 10 Comments ·

about me pic

“I am everyday people.” Sly & The Family Stone

As an introduction, my name is Heather Wilkins. I’m 33 years old and am currently a part-time instructor at a local community college and teach Adobe Illustrator and Adobe InDesign to Graphic Design students. You were wondering if I love my job? I ABSOLUTELY love my job! Every day I am teaching, I’m learning. It’s a great feeling and I’ve learned a lot about myself through my students. Being a graphic designer for 6 years has opened up a world to me that I never would have known and I attribute so much of my growth to that. Unfortunately this will be the last semester that I will teach because this fall I plan on attending the University of North Carolina at Greensboro for Interpreter Preparation Concentration (Interpreter of the Deaf)! I’m really stoked about that. In one hand I’m sad but in the other I’m excited and happy that I’m finding a new path. You’re probably wondering why I’m leaving something that I love…well…I have so much more of me that I want to give and more I want to learn. I’ve always been interested in sign language and recently became more interested in the Deaf Community. I think being an interpreter will open up a whole new world for me. I won’t quit designing – NEVER! I will always be a designer. Just veering off onto another path. 🙂

  Now, about the trip. So, if you haven’t read about it in my, “About This Journey” section in the menu, I’ve started this blog to document a cross country trip that myself and my parents are taking in May. We will leave May 14th by plane, land in California and stay with our cousins in Penryn for about 4 days. After that we will purchase a Nissan Quest minivan from them and drive it up the coast and arrive in Aberdeen Washington. My sister lives there along with my nieces (of whom I’m SO excited to see). We will stay there for two months (give or take a couple of days) then drive ALL THE WAY back in the Quest to North Carolina. For the journey back we are taking the middle route. So this is how the trip looks from start to finish:

Belhaven NC –> Penryn CA –> Aberdeen WA

Aberdeen WA –> ID –> MT–> WY –> CO –> KS –> MO –> IL –> KY –> TN –> Belhaven NC (You can also view this visual in the photo on the homepage.)

There are many sites we will visit and things we’ll do. One of our main purposes of taking this trip is to watch my 18 yr. old niece graduate high school! My heart swells when I think of her being so grown. 🙂 We will visit a couple of National Parks, visit Canada, go camping in Washington and several other things that I will share! We don’t have everything written down and nothing is set in stone. We have ideas and plans to go to certain places and we’ll let other events waft in as we go.

We’re just trying to have a good time and take it all in and really enjoy this trip. I mean, how many opportunities do you get to travel across this great nation?!