Home To Me Is Reality, And All I Need Is Something Real

I promise you, my apartment smells better than yours right now.

Try the white glove test. You won’t find any dust here.

A bigger neat freak than even Kim Kardashian herself (if you don’t understand that reference, I must ask… what DO you watch on Sunday nights?!), the past week of my life has been dedicated to restoring my apartment to its full cleanliness and cuteness potential after spending the first week of August with three of my closest friends as houseguests. Kayla and I welcomed Bre, Erin, and Dustin into our two bedroom apartment for a full week before they drove back to Iowa with her so she could start grad school.

That’s right.
Five people.
Two bedrooms.
One bathroom.

It got a little crowded to say the least.

Still, it was good to be surrounded by some of my favorite people; friends who have known me for years instead of just a few weeks. The kind that know all my darkest secrets (and trust me, they have a few), who have seen me through the highs and lows of college and my first job. The kind of friends I can go without speaking to for months and pick up like we didn’t miss a beat over Facebook chat.

*It's something free that means a lot to me...
when I'm with my friends I feel home*



Bre in particular has played a major role in my success to date. When I completed my internship with KELO, they asked me to stay on as a weekend reporter—great news, but living at college an hour away made it tough. Bre gave me the keys to her apartment and let me use it as my own during the fall of 2007. This was before we even became close friends. That’s just the kind of person that she is. She was one of the only people I told I was applying for this job back in March, and even then, she promised to visit.




She’s good at keeping promises.

Their Florida vacay was filled with drinks…



beach…



drinks…



karaoke…


Ok, the karaoke may have been just me…

drinks…



tattoos…



… and more drinks.



I probably drank an entire bottle of Patron XO that week. I needed it, because Saturday morning bright and early, Kayla and friends packed up the Chrysler and hit the road.

Kayla and I went through a lot this summer; we definitely proved that nothing can come between a 20-year friendship. That being said, her bed wasn’t even cold when I started to clean her room out.

I had a two bedroom in Rapid, but even when I didn’t have roommates, the spare didn’t exactly pass as a guest room. Air mattresses just aren’t as welcoming as a real bed, even if they are covered in a down comforter and a half dozen pillows. ‘Kayla’s room’, as I am required to call it, is now all cleaned up, decorated how I want, and hauntingly empty.

I had my first full Saturday alone in my place this past weekend, and as I was going through bills (as that’s the only mail I get… aside from a Glamour subscription), my remote landed on a Travel Channel special on the Black Hills.

Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, the Badlands, Deadwood, Spearfish Canyon—you name it, they covered it, and I had, too. A flood of memories came rushing back to me.



Today marks four months since I left South Dakota.

I’m officially well over the three-month hump that makes living anywhere feel like summer vacation. During every internship, every long stretch away from home, at the end of August it’s time to return to normal.

Today officially marks the longest I’ve ever lived this far away from home. It’s also the first time I’ve ever been homesick.

I don’t know if it was the Travel Channel, seeing Kayla and friends leave, or the onset of an emotional hangover that comes after a three-month alcohol binge, but Saturday night, sitting at a booth in my new ‘regular’ bar with new friends, I ached for the Midwest. It was the first time I’d ever second-guessed my decision to leave… that maybe the grass wasn’t greener on the other side of the country.

If it seems like it’s been awhile since I’ve blogged, called, emailed, texted, or Facebooked, don’t take it personally. I think it’s been easier for me to move forward in my life by ignoring that my past exists, because it is so easy to fall back into old habits and want to be back home.

My friends posted more than 100 pictures online from their recent trip to my new home. Seeing where I lived through their eyes reminded me how privileged I am to be living here and pursuing my dream.

It’s easy for the shine of a new place to wear off and become routine, and in just four months I had forgotten just how gorgeous this place is.

Seeing all of South Dakota’s landmarks on TV made me sad, but seeing my friends’ vacation photos reminded me that home will always be there in the people that I love.

Now that I’m four months into my two-year commitment, it’s time to really make new memories in a place I’ll no doubt watch on the Travel Channel in my next market.

*And in a thousand years and a thousand tears...
I'll go and find my original crew*