CREATURES OF THE DEEP:THE LEECH EDITION

Well, I finally got a roommate in my cabin today! Kelsey moved in and thank God she's really nice and seems fairly normal!! I was kinda worried but she's actually alright. She's from Iowa and went to Iowa State University, actually just graduated from there about a week ago with a major in Wildlife Ecology, so all this wilderness stuff is right up her alley. I pretty much decided she's my nature guide. Haha without her I wouldn't know that vanilla extract keeps the gnats away, that leeches don't have eyes, or that in the woods around here we have black bears who are rather blind and deaf so theyre not too much of a threat.
I think I'm gonna start some kind of Northwoods Bucket List to check off things to see and do while I'm up here, like find and take a picture of a moose, or go to some crazy local Dessert and Salad Social. Haha. Ely is kind of a funny place.
Oh I forgot to tell you about Jana. She's Ben's wife who came up the other day but she's really awesome. She's from Georgia but they moved to Minneapolis so Ben could go to Paramedic School and she can go to the U of M for her Master's degree in piano. I didn't have to clean cabins alone which helped it go a lot faster and when Kelsey starts up tomorrow it'll go even better.
I'm starting to be a lot less homesick now. The first couple days it was kind of rough, I'll admit it. I tried to be super optimistic to get through it but I was really lonely and missed everyone and felt out of place and I almost just packed up and drove home one night, but I've had some good chats with people like Katie and Christina who kept telling me it would get better. So thank you girls for that :) ALTHOUGHHHH I have Tuesday night through Thursday off so I will definitely be making a trip home and to Mankato to get some things done like financial aid, and I gotta send my bridesmaid dress for Katie's wedding in to get altered and such. so...I'll try to get a plan all figured out. Oh I also need to buy some milk where it's not 5 bucks a gallon. Groceries are kind of ridiculously expensive out here. Haha today Kelsey and I drove into town hoping to go to the library and buy some groceries and completely forgot that it was Sunday and everything is closed around 4. hahahha fail on my part. I keep losing track of what day it is.

So what have I been up to the past couple days? Well after my lovely day off on Friday, I started back up and Jana and I got trained in on cabin turnover and getting them ready for guests to arrive. Everything needs to be spotless and has very strategic and particular placing. So that takes up a lot of time just getting everything perfect. I think one of my favorite set-ups is preparing the Honeymoon/Romance package! We have to do some artistic towel-folding and set out wine glasses and pick out a few starter movies for them to watch. Haha Jane had me run down to the lodge and pick out 2 movies for it...and I picked Top Gun and Sleeping With The Enemy. Which apparently the guests loved because I ran into the lady staying there today and … okay actually, Jana, Kelsey and I were sitting outside my cabin and this lady runs over to us and was like “You wanna see something gross?” and I was really unsure of what to do so I was like. “Uhhh...sure” haha so we follow her to the end of a dock and she points at this leech that's about a foot long!!! I was like.. “OHMYGOSH. Pretty sure I'm not going swimming in there. Ever.” haha and then after that she told me she loved that I picked out Top Gun for them to watch because it's one of her favorite movies and then high-fived me. Hahaha I think I'm gonna love meeting all the guests.
Ohh so.. Steve and Jane are getting a bit better. I just have to remember that .. Number One: they've been running this business for 35 years so when they want things a certain way, I gotta do it. And Number Two: they're getting kinda old, so sometimes they're a little off. Haha. So like.. this giant Astrovan that we use to take all the cleaning supplies up to the cabins farther up the shore, is really temperamental. Sometimes the auto-lock doesnt work, sometimes the doors wont open and a lot of times the back hatch gets stuck. One of these occasions was my fault because I didn't slam the hatch shut but I closed the top glass part and so it wouldn't open properly when I tried once we got to the cabin. So Jana and I are sitting there messing with it, trying everything to open it..but it's just not happening. Steve comes out and messes with it for a while and we finally get it open, and he says to me: “Well see now you've been pressing the auto lock button on this remote here while you turn the key and that just keeps locking it instead of opening it” .. haha which was completely not the issue as I pointed out before..ahha and I tried my best to keep a straight face until I got into the cabin and then Jana and I burst out laughing at Steve's old man diagnosis. And then later that day I told him my oven was broken and he comes over and fiddles with it and is like “Well now you gotta turn it on. See now it works!” haha yeah...like I didnt try turning it on before? Hahah ...crazy...
Mmm... well that's basically been it. Things are starting to get busier so that's really awesome. And we're almost at full staff here. There's Me, Ted, Sam, Rob, Adam, Kelsey, Ben, Jana, a new guy today Spencer, now we're just waiting on Ryan and Natalie. Kels and I somehow managed to get all of our stuff to fit in this tiny cabin. Oh we did some rearranging and got the bunkbed just barely to fit how we wanted and now we have a lot more room and then we made some dinner and Kelsey brought this rhubarb bread she made...SO GOOD! We're gonna make some cookies tomorrow I think and then hopefully go out to Rob's for a bonfire and whatnot. Pretty legit :)
catchya later when we're not creeping outside the library, stealing the wireless. haha

rain makes corn, corn makes whiskey...

haha. so the title to this comes from a song I heard today when I was cleaning out Shifting Pine. It was funny because I was sitting there grumbling and thinking WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE RAINING RIGHT NOW!!! and the chorus went "rain makes corn, corn makes whiskey, whiskey makes my baby feel a little frisky!" haha and I was like oh jeez why didn't I think of that? haha.

anyways. It's so weird, I've been going to bed around 10:30/11 ish every night...so unthinkable for a college kid, I know. and I speculated with Rob that it's because I have no life, but we've really all been working hard out here at River Point. 9-5 every day. I feel so grown up. hah. Although the rainy weather has not been doing wonders for my positive attitude, and also theyve been keeping me pretty much isolated from everyone else. doing womens' work, I call it. aka doing cabin turnover which actually takes a long time! oh and I sang some Cinderella songs while I handwashed all the floors in the cabin today!! it was an intense time...and we had to leave this little complimentary goodie basket that had stuff like coffee and cocoa and also this little card that's like AND YOUR HOUSEKEEPER IS __________. ANY COMMENTS OR COMPLAINTS?________________________________ haha it's kind of a big commitment to put my name down after my first time cleaning a cabin. ah! I guess we'll find out next weekend when they check out. Best case scenario? I get a tip! gas moneys for sure :)

I finally get a day off! It was weird, I went to clock out and Jane just says "and you have tomorrow off"... umm sweet. but I really hope they have an actual schedule that I can write down or have or something...I don't like this..impromptu...wake up at 8 to see if I work or not...thing. I love having a set schedule. or at least being able to plan... oh well. It's all part of getting used to things I guess.

I think this weekend is gonna be pretty great. The resort finally opens up to guests tomorrow! so it'll be busier and I'll have people to talk to and I get to be the gift shop girl. haha. legit. Oh and highlight of my past few days: Brennan Rue. cutest little baby boy ever. I came in the door today and he was supposed to be going to bed but he saw me and ran and kissed me on the cheek. I love that kid. way too much. although...according to Jake, he's really just playing me. hahahaha. ridiculous. well. either way I'll take it.

LET'S PLAY "DODGE THE WHITE PINE"!

Well, it's been a bit more interesting around here the last few dayss. Monday we raked some more and then headed out towards the farthest cabin Shifting Pines to help with some landscaping which basically consisted of hauling gigantic rocks down to the shore to build up the retaining wall around the whole lake. Suffice to say, I passed out the second I hit the bed that day. Then yesterday we cleared some brush and hauled a few more loads of rocks and then thank the Lord, my boss Jane wanted me to get familiarized with the lodge and all of the stuff I will ACTUALLY be doing. Haha. I put a ton of price tags on new shirts and products like these cute little pillows that look like different animals. It was funny because you got your general north woods type animals like a moose or bear and then all of a sudden there's a zebra with pink stripes and a dragon! Haha. Ohhh dear.

Oh, we got a few more new staff too. There's a guy named Adam who apparently graduated from Mankato. So I thought that was kinda cool until I found out he was a music major... ugh. Well it's not that bad, haha but music and theater majors tend to be a bit... ya know. Okay here's an example of something he said to me “oh did you know anyone who was in choir there?” and I said “well I was.” and he's like “oh. I just wondered because it's kind of hard to get into choir when you're a woman.” I was like ummm seriously??? okay... whatever. so.. I definitely made him ride in back on the Mule cart while I drove. Haha. Biatch. Then there's another guy (yes, i'm still the only girl here!) named Sam who is actually really cool. He goes to St. Cloud State and plays guitar. It was funny the first thing I said to him was when I saw he was wearing a Yankees hat... I said “Are you for real a Yankees fan? Cuz I don't know if I can talk to you anymore...” haha and he was like “ohhhh no! I just like the hat is all”.. yeah. Likely story, buddy. Hahaha

I can't wait til we actually open the resort on Friday. Then it'll stop being sooooo quiet. Ah!

Well I'm gonna go do some LSAT studying and maybe hang out with the boys.

Peace out :)

day 1

Everything is definitely different.
For starters, I slept amazingly. It was quiet. No crazy, loud, drunk people coming up Cherry St from the bars. (no offense KP I loved living with you!!)

But there's not much that goes on...well not right now anyways. The guests start arriving on Friday! And the rest of the employees should be here soon. I met three of the other ones today. Well, Ted showed up at the same time as me yesterday so I kinda met him then. But anyways, the other two were Ben and Rob. And...oh my gosh Rob, Ted and I all raked like...half the property and it took about 8 hours... ridiculous. But ..hahaha I was like “oh man..this raking is intense!” and the resort owner's son James came out of the supply shed and asked if I wanted to to use a leaf blower, and suddenly pulls out this Ghostbusters sized backpack leaf blower! I was like “MIIIIINE!” haha so I put it on and I got to wear this sweet helmet thing for auditory protection (haha which I said out loud in a british accent, like Professor Sprout did in the Chamber of Secrets movie) and kinda ran all over the place and jumped off of rocks and trees with it. Haha. That was probably the best part of my entire day. Seeing as it started out kinda weird.
Okay...all Jane told me yesterday was that I needed to do PAPERWORK at 9. so I show up..and at least I was wearing tennis shoes..but anyways... I got reprimanded for eating a banana. Steve was like “eat your dinner before you show up for work! We can't have this kinda stuff on the job unless you're punched out for break”... number one it was 9 in the morning...so it cant be dinner time. Haha thennn Jane points at my face and is like “oh another thing... you cant have that apparati in on the job” ...I supposed she meant my lip piercing? And then handed me a rake and set us to work. Not that I minded...I was just dressed for paperwork, not raking. Hah
but all in all..i guess it was an alright day. Tomorrow we work on digging trenches for new electrical conduits.. joy joy joy. Lol
oh. Another random thing. Rob went to Kennedy Highschool in Bloomington and knows Rossy!!! also..his sister goes to Mankato. Haha weird.

Welllll off to go play guitar by the lake :)

yeah i'd like to rondezvous with the new girl in town

Well, it's my first official day of summer, and what am I doing? finishing an essay for a class due by Monday at the latest... haha I've finally found a peaceful place to do homework though! The northern air is amazing, and there's no madhouse atmosphere like that of the library and coffee shops of Mankato during finals week. This is gonna be a good thing for me I hope.

It was harder than I thought to leave everyone behind though. I made my rounds just trying to track people down and get one last hug before I wouldnt see anyone til school starts up again. There are a few people I'm not sure I can handle living without... like my awesome roommate Kyle! or the amazing gentlemen of TKE..and oh man I definitely dragged out my last chat with Cody as long as possible. I'm gonna change the subject now before I get even more depressed about it!

So I arrived at River Point around 3:30 today, got all settled in; it's a really cute little one bedroom cabin that I get to stay in until Natalie and I move into the college duplex housing in June for the rest of the summer. Right now I get a giant bed and the whole place to myself, but I guess some girl named Kelsey is getting here on the 18th and then theyre gonna put a bunk bed in. Personally, I don't see how it's all going to fit in there since it's so small...and I really hope she's cool.... I haven't had great experiences with the whole living in such close quarters with another girl, cuz us girls are all crazy b's!!! haha. but we'll just have to see how it all goes.

I've just been checking out the town, and I already found two coffee shop options with wireless, so that's kinda nice..since I was told that I'd be able to use wireless on site but I tried..and it was not working out. I also found a music store! so I'll have to check that out when it's actually open. The thing about small towns is they have completely different operating hours. So I haven't gotten to check out too many outfitting stores or little shops yet. I guess that's a sign that I should be finishing my paper instead of gallavanting around town. haha.

I can't wait to meet all the other staff tomorrow! I start orientation and filling out paperwork at 9...which kinda sucks because I wanted to check out the church service..but oh well. Once I meet people and have new friends to hang out with, I'll be less bored and lonely. Although, I'm really excited to see little Brennan Rue and eat some of Jan's ridiculously good baking whenever theyre around and Sheri and Keith just called me up and bought me ice cream. soooo I guess I shouldn't say I'm completely bored and lonely. too early in the game to be saying that.

well, sorry this is mostly a boring entry...once I start working and everything there will be way more to tell!! and hopefully I'll have a camera soon to take pictures!

I better go finish this paper!!! hope you're all having an amazing day!