This week got away from me.

It’s been a week since I last posted, and that makes me so very sad.

Life has been crazy. Life has been beautiful.

Boston has been enjoying a few days of perfect spring weather. Right at this moment it’s a blissful 74 degrees outside. The birds are chirping and the trees are beginning to blossom with fresh buds.

Unfortunately, I am inside and working on my first press release for my writing job. That’s OK, though. I’d rather be writing right now.

I wanted to take a break and update you all (y’all) on life.

Work at the flower shop has been pretty good so far. Thursday I worked at the shop in Beacon Hill, where most of the orders are placed and arrangements are made. My boss wanted me to learn how to put flower arrangements together. Unfortunately, I am not a natural at it, but I will learn. I’m determined.

Easter weekend at the shop was absolutely insane. My fingers stopped working at one point and I could barely tie bows anymore. That was a bad half-hour.

My bosses left town for a week, which is kinda cool, but it means I have another week of working double shifts. That means that Tuesday through Friday I’ll be at the shop about 11 hours each day. Then Saturday I work all day again (12 hours) and then all day on Sunday. At least I’ll be banking when these pay checks come in.

The downside is that it means I have no life outside of the flower shop and my bed. When I get off work I usually stumble to the T stop in Copley, doze off on the way home and then fall into bed the second I walk in the door to the apartment. It’s a quiet little life, but at this point I don’t think I’d trade it for anything.

On the social life front, however, things are a little more rough. Like I’ve said before there are two sides to this experience. One side, the one I’m trying to focus on the most, is making it in the city. So I’ve at least opened the door to that and have started writing, which is significant.

The other side to this is trying to meet new people and go out and do more things. I’m finding that a little more difficult. Although work keeps me so busy, when I do have a little down time I want to try to find something to do. This is when it gets hard. If I were in Texas it’d be no big deal. I would basically have my pick of three of my best friends and we’d go get coffee, go shopping, or just chill out.

But here? Here things are different. This is when I miss being in school. I miss the built-in set of friends I had from classes and stuff.

So if you guys have any suggestions on how to un-creepily meet people I’d love to hear them.

Whataweek.

Well. I guess it’s finally time to update everyone on life in Boston. A good update. A thorough update.

Work is great right now. Although the hours are long (LONG), the work is mentally and physically taxing and I’m exhausted by the time I get off work I love it.

Here’s a rundown of what it entails: If I open the shop I have to be at work at 7:30, except on the weekends. Luckily the shop opens later on Saturdays and Sundays. I spend the first 2-3 hours setting up the display out front. Some days, like Sunday, it can be crazy busy in the morning and the display will end up taking me close to four hours. This is good though because it means the time absolutely flies by. After that I usually have a list of things to take care of, which is left by the person who closed the night before. This can consist of things like making bouquets, sweeping, watering the plants inside and outside and myriad other things. It’s rare to actually finish the list within my shift though, simply because the shop does keep so busy. Especially rush hour. Whoa. Rush hour SUCKS.

But the job is enjoyable. It’s more about the people than anything else. My bosses are wonderful. They’re a married couple and started the company a number of years ago. My co-workers also are great. We get along really well so far. There’s two Katie’s who work here (big surprise). So the other Katie is “Little Katie” and I am “Katie Texas.” I like it.

Then there’s the customers. For the most part, people are great. I love making bouquets of the dozen or half-dozen of roses for men. They’re always so appreciative and I have to believe that somewhere in Boston one woman’s (or man’s, you never know) day is being brightened by something that I made. It’s a good feeling.

One day I was outside setting up the display and a man came up and introduced himself to me. He said (and the Boston accent was insane), “Hello, my name is Sonny. I’m looking for flow’as for my sistah. So’s here’s what I’m gonna do. I’m gonna stand out here and drink my coffee. And if you would be a doll I want you go make somethin’ real pretty for my sistah. Thanks, sweetheart.”

Uh, Ok. That was amazing. And so I decided to get creative and I put together a bouquet of white roses and vivid purple tulips. I’m all about the simple. And that sweet, awesome Boston guy loved it. Or he said, “I’m a guy. Do’s I look like I know what to do when it comes to flowahs?” Hahaha. He gave me a $5 tip though and told me to get coffee. Thank you, I did.

Another morning I was opening and man came by looking for something for his wife. He said he only had $7.50, and what could he get for that much? I told him he could get a bunch of tulips but they’re $8. After begging me to drop the price (which I couldn’t do because I’m only an employee) he called his friend who lives in the area to ask him for a dollar. I guess he really wanted the flowers. Anyway his friend wasn’t around so he got off the phone and was extremely dejected. Then something pretty cool happened.

A bum was walking by and stopped and pulled out a dollar. He handed it to the man, who looked a little surprised. The bum goes, “You’re short, right? Here’s a dollar.” The other guy said, “Thanks, man!” And the bum says, “Don’t thank me; thank God.”

It was pretty cool. It’s things like that that make this job interesting. And life in general.

So now on to St. Patrick’s Day. It was so much fun! My friend from home came in town with his best friend for the last leg of their road trip and stayed at my apartment. Although I had to work from 7:30 to about 4:30 I met up with them as soon as I was off work. And from there the drinking commenced. We saw so many crazy people. Boston gets wild! There was green everywhere we looked, including a man dressed in a lime green spandex body suit. Haha.

I definitely should have dressed up better. I suppose now I’ll know for next year.

After my friend left on Friday, though, I got incredibly homesick. More than anything I wanted to jump in the car and hide in the backseat for the ride back to Lubbock. It’s not that I’m unhappy here; it’s just that it gets lonely sometimes. I still miss my best friends, my parents, my familiar and safe life back home.

But then I meet people who make this uncertainty up here worthwhile. I meeet random strangers on the streets of Boston who remind me why I’m here and what I’m doing. I take encouragement from the people who come into the shop and strike up a conversation with me when they hear me say “ya’ll” and then commend me for making the move. I see things here that I know I wouldn’t see or experience back home and it makes it better. It’s just a matter of getting used to the pace and life up here and then I’ll be fine. It takes time!

Whoa. Things got busy.

To my few but faithful readers:

(Who are more than likely my parents, a few family members and people back in Texas eagerly awaiting the next “Katie-fail. 😉 I say that in jest, I promise.)

Anyway. I logged on this morning to my blog because to be completely honest I could not remember the last time I posted. And I was aghast at what I saw. I guess in the last week or so I went and got an actual life up here in Boston. Now how about that?

So I promise I will learn to balance work, play and writing. I will learn to write faithfully on my blog at least 4 to 5 times a week. It keeps me sane.

So although I do have a day off today (!!!!) I will not be posting a complete update of my life right now. I will, however, post a brief overview of the goodies to come.

1. I had two friends from Texas come to Boston last week for the last stop on their epic road trip. They were here for St. Patrick’s Day. Two phrases for you: Green beer and spandex green body suit.

2. Work. I love it. I love, love, love it. It’s busy and crazy and hard and my hands, my poor, formerly pretty hands are beaten and scratched beyond belief. Ouch.

3. People in Boston. People never fail to surprise me. I see kindness from perfect strangers and it blows my mind. I’ve made friends with Steve, the homeless man. He brings me coffee and watches out for me. He likes to tell me if boys are checking me out. Hehe.

4. Homesickness. After my friends left, it hit hard. HARD. But I’m better now

5. I’m trying to figure out my trip to Midland in May. I CAN NOT wait. And I think I”ll be in Lubbock for a night! Hooray!

That’s all I can think of for now. I’m off to enjoy this day off to the fullest. I’m going to go curl up in the darkest corner of Barnes and Noble and read. Then run some errands. I have to pick up a package from the post office my sweet mom sent me. Then I have yoga at 4!

Call me the new girl.

I don’t want anyone to freak out when they read this but here it is.

Moving is hard. Moving is scary. Starting over in a new place, when I’m not in school and know very few people?

It sucks.

It sucks majorly.

Don’t get me wrong; I’ve met some great people. And they’re fun to hang out with. But do you know how hard it is to shoehorn yourself into a group of friends that has already been established? A group of friends of which you are not a part?

It’s close to impossible. And there are moments when I know I’m at the absolute edge of it, clinging to the group with my fingertips. They have inside jokes I don’t get. They have stories to tell over and over, stories that remind me of the antics of some of my best friends back home. I keep trying to insert interesting comments to make them laugh. I try to make the times I speak worthwhile so that they know I am a fun, sweet, decent person. Or trick them into thinking that, at the very least.

For now, I am the novelty. The Texas girl. The girl who says ‘y’all’ a lot and speaks in a slight Texas accent and is friendly to complete strangers. I am the girl who grew up in suburbia and scary Texas and had parents who lived across the street from George H. W. Bush. (That’s always cause for exclamation for these New Englanders.) I am the awkward, often uncertain small-town girl who needs to grow the big-city skin. I am the new girl.

And, OK, I love being the girl from Texas. I still have my Texas pride, (if anything it’s grown since I moved here. I can idealize Texas again and I firmly believe it is the best state in the nation. Quote me.)  and I love that I am stereotypically blond and blue-eyed. But I want a group. I want to have people to fall back on and I want to make friends whom I can call to say, “Hey, let’s grab coffee, go to a movie, get dinner.” Whatever. It really doesn’t matter. I just want a group again.

It’s rough. I miss my group of friends so much sometimes it hurts. I miss my best friends and wine nights and shopping at South Plains Mall and coffee dates. I miss lunches in the SUB at Texas Tech.

And all of you reading this are thinking that I’m crazy and that I need to gut up and grow up and get over it. And you’re completely right. Or you’re thinking that I should fall back into my life in Texas. It would be so easy, so incredibly easy to go back to Lubbock. To return to everything that is familiar.

But I’m not going to. Even when I’m hopelessly lonely, even when I check to see how much flights home are or Mapquest my house in Midland one thing remains the same. And that is my fascination with Boston and exploring and living in a new city. I still love it. And I won’t go home. I just won’t, because going home would be admitting defeat. It would be failing on a scale that’s too large and vast and terrifying to even imagine. I know, deep down where my heart is peaceful (think of a dove. Wink, wink) things will work out. I know this is where I’m supposed to be. It just gets hard. But I’m willing to go the extra mile to make it work out.

I always wanted to move to the big city. I always thought it would be amazing and fun and, naively and stupidly, I thought it would be simple. Easy. I never thought past what would happen after I got off the plane. I never thought about having to make friends. I never thought about the day-to-day aspects of living in an anonymous city. The logistics of making friends are difficult when they aren’t ready-made for me in school and classes.  

God, I miss college sometimes.

Two months ago tonight.

It’s hard to believe, but it’s been two months.

Two months ago, at this moment, I was at Chili’s with my two best friends and my little sister, drinking margaritas and talking, laughing and living.

Two months ago I was nervous wreck.

Two months ago I had no clue what would happen the next day.

Two months ago I had no idea who I would meet, the things I would do or the places I would see.

I never imagined how much my life could change. I never imagined that the places I Google-mapped for hours during stupid editing class last fall would at last become familiar to me. I never thought that I would so quickly find people I get along with or find places that have become my regular haunts.

And now?

Now. Now things are good. I shouldn’t have worried so much that last night in little old Midland.