Why I’m Getting A Bigger Space

Those of you who are my Facebook friends know that this week, I’ve begun the process of looking for a new apartment to rent. If I move, this will be the 26th time in my 28 years I’ve put my things into boxes and moved to another location.

Currently, I live in 220 square feet several blocks from the ocean in beautiful Bar Harbor Maine. Everything in that sentence sounds great, but I challenge you to measure out 220 square feet and then imagine yourself living and working from that space. Don’t forget your bed, desk, kitchen, bathroom, table…Now in your mind, add a dog and those items that come with dog ownership to your floorplan. So you may understand why I’m beginning to feel a little squeezed in over the last year.

Night Rider’s Lament Or Taking The Road Less Traveled

Anyone who has taken a difficult step away from what they are ‘supposed’ to do can’t say they’ve never doubted it. I am no exception.
There are periods of uncertainty I go through where I wonder if I’m doing the right thing.
I’ve been housesitting for a couple good friends this weekend and while walking through their neighborhood and seeing all the houses for sale today, I thought “Shouldn’t I be on the path towards this?” I mean, shouldn’t I have a house and maybe a husband and kids by now? Why am I using my nest egg to start a business that may or may not work?

To Move Or Not To Move

There comes a time in every person’s life when they realize they need to make a change, even if it requires spending more money. My moment came last week.

Having someone visit my apartment is always interesting if only because it makes me realize how small it is. Most of the time, I can ignore it but someone else is around, I get questions.

What I Learned On Katahdin

This is part way down Knife's Edge, and still six hours to go in our hike. Phil coined the phrase 'blue blaze of sanity' since the fact that there are trail markings is what makes doing this not completely insane.

In the entire history of my blog, I have never thought about and rewritten a post so many times. I didn’t want to sound nonchalant about doing some stupid, dangerous things and at the same time, I didn’t want to sound overly dramatic. Here is my attempt at balance, and my cautionary tale.

This past weekend, I hiked Mount Katahdin with my British friend Phil. He had always wanted to go but thought it was too dangerous to attempt alone. I said when he visited Maine again, we’d do it.

He arrived on Thursday from London and Friday morning, we headed into the North Maine woods (Millinocket more specifically) and made camp. The next morning (3:30 am more specifically) we took down camp and headed into Baxter State Park.

The plan was to park at Roaring Brook Campground, hike the Helon Taylor trail, take Knife’s Edge to the summit of Katahdin, hike down Cathedral then Chimney Pond trail back to Roaring Brook. It is a long and difficult hike under normal circumstances. Attempting this in October is not something I plan to do again, mostly because I was really stupid about it.

9/11 Eight Years Later

I was going to write about something else until I read my friend Mark’s blog post today about 9/11. Why ignore something I, and probably a lot of other people, are thinking about? I can’t believe it happened eight years ago. What a different time it was, and what a different person I was.

The first major incident of the day happened while I was trying to stay awake in an early morning Structural Geology class. (Note to geology professors everywhere: if the class is before 10 am, please keep the showing of rock photo slides in a dark room to a minimum…otherwise even nerds like me drift off.) I got out of class and that particular day, my parents were stopping by my college on their way to some sort of business conference. Since I grew up about five hours drive away, this was not a regular occurence.

LL Bean Flip Flops: A Tribute

My sandals and I enjoy the view...just hours before one of them would disappear forever.They say you don’t know what you have until it’s gone, and boy, is that true. Especially when it comes to cute and functional footwear.

At the end of the sailing expedition this past weekend, I was walking down the ladder to get onto the dingy when my flip flop flopped off into Somes Sound. My friend motored over to rescue it but ran it over in the process. It disappeared into the dark waters. I hobbled onshore with my one shoe.

“I hope they weren’t expensive.” he said.

Now as a personal finance blogger and otherwise practical person, I don’t have $100 flip flops. Maybe if I lived somewhere where it didn’t snow nine months of the year, I’d invest, but otherwise, I like my summer shoes like I like my entertainment: cheap and fun.

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