Take me to Vacationland!

Hello Reader,

Approximately one week from right now I will be wrapping things up at new student orientation to hop on a bus to take me to my apartment to grab my luggage before getting back on a bus that will take me to the lightrail, which will take me to the shuttle that takes me to the airport where I will hop on my plane back home to Maine!!! *Happy dance* Technically, I have to hang out in Jersey for a bit on my layover, but whatever, at least I'll be back on the east coast!

Acadia National Park - Photo by Molly Schenck

I must say, Vacationland has a whole new meaning to me now. I thought it was kind of cool to live in a place known as Vacationland because I never had to go anywhere to be on a relaxing vacation. Now, it means more to me. I am so happy to be heading home for a 10 day vacation where I can relax by the lake in non-triple digit temperatures.

I should also add whenever I think/say/hear the word "vacationland" I think of the the Elvis song, "Promised Land." It is a very suitable song for my travel across the country...well, I'm traveling the opposite direction as the song and Elvis never sang about Arizona, Maine or Jersey in that journey, BUT it sort of works... Who cares!? I'm coming home in a week!

Finally, I want to leave you with this fun scene that has been bouncing around in my head this past week. As I said, "vacationland" makes me think of "Promised Land" and, well, "Promised Land" makes me think of the tunnel scene from Men In Black. So, combining all of that, the scene in my head has Tommy Lee Jones, upside-down, singing along to Elvis and replacing the words"Promised Land" with "Vacationland." The scene is below if you need some help envisioning it. Enjoy!

Thanks for reading!

- M

The Recyclables

Hello Reader,

About two months ago I had two friends from Maine visit. We went to an event called, "Yoga Rocks The Park" which was amazing in it's own right, but it was extra special and amazing going with these two lucky charms. At the end of the practice there were giveaways and one of my friends won a six month supply of bottled water!

Now that is a lot of water  - and I am sure there is some Arizona-desert-water joke in there somewhere - but when you take public transportation from one city to another lugging a dozen cases of water is not feasible. So, long story short, since my friends couldn't bring all of the water on a plane back to Maine I inherited the water. Best (and only) inheritance of my life.  

For the past two months the recycling bin has looked like this daily. 

 On one of my many trips to dump the bottles in the apartment complex's recycling bin I realized one thing I really missed about Maine, I don't get five cents back on each bottle! I know it sounds frugal, but it was so exciting to turn a bunch of bottles into enough money for a fancy cup of coffee or a cookie from Ampersand. And now, I don't get any of that. If I had inherited all this water in Maine and recycled it, I would have made a whopping $14 off of free water. But, oh well. I did save on water filters for the past two months.

Thanks for reading.

- M