It's official. The lease is signed, sent away with the $589 holding fee/deposit. I can't back out now, unless I want to pay $589 a month to live at home and preserve my credit.

Now it's time to get excited. Before I always felt like things might not work out and I'd be stuck at home for who knows how long, waiting tables at a hickish truck stop. But now my dream is coming true... and I'm so happy. :) I am excited to embrace this new apartment. It may not be perfect, and it may not be the cheapest possible place, but it will be my home for the next year. Worst case scenario, it's a complete rip off and a horrible deal. Either way, I'm stuck paying for it, so might as well just forget all the other *might have beens* and focus on what is. And the way I look at it, it has a pool...what could possibly be bad about that? :P I'm so excited to make it home, and to make it work. I'm excited to do what it takes to survive on my own. Like it or not, my name is on that lease, and I WILL be moving to Bellingham in just under two months.

Five (possibly six) more shifts at T.O.D. That's a relief, although in some ways I'm wishing I wouldn't have to quit so soon. It's stressful, because I know how much I might want the money in the future. But it's necessary. I want to be able to travel, to take time off, to enjoy life here before I leave.