Hi Everyone!  I can't thank you enough for all the positive feedback that i have had so far on the blog. I have heard from a few of you, and it has been a treat to hear about your own inspiration scouting!

If my parents are reading this right now, please scroll down to the part about Harry Potter.

For everyone else, I wanted to tell you about my roof adventures!

I took this like 5 mins ago.  I am actually still sitting on the roof right now.

If you are a friend of mine in Boston and you haven't seen me in the the last week, it's because I am usually scurrying from either class, work, or working on my homework.  It is a pretty busy season for me right now, but that doesn't mean that I can't make time to be alone.  For this week, rather than going out and doing a solitary activity, I have been doing homework on my roof.  My roommate, Kaylyn, and I discovered our roof access last summer.  For the times that Boston feels a little much like a city, my rooftop is clutch.  Another bonus is that our wifi works up there.  ( cha-ching!!)

Just casually drinking a cold brew coffee on a summer's day.

Moving on.  As I was reflecting on my attempt to embrace the solitary life, I remembered that I had started my journey before I realized.  Let's back track a bit, perhaps with the use of a time turner????

My only goal of 2014 was to read through the Harry Potter Series.  It's true.  When I sat down in March to write a belated New Year's Resolution list, the only thing that I could think of was - well I guess I have never read the Harry Potter books.  Best decision of my mid twenties.  If you have been friends with me post 2014 you have probably heard me say, "J.K. Rowling is a genius" or "I can't believe Snape's role in all of this," or even the sentimental "if Harry can get through this, then I can get through anything."  See reading a seven book series is a big deal for me.  I have never done it, and I probably won't do it again.  The reason - reading feels like a waste of time.  I used to hate reading because I felt like it was a constellation prize to actually hanging out and interacting with people.  Why would I want to read a book when I could talk to someone?  I was surprised to learn that Harry Potter united me to so many more people than I could ever have imagined.

Over the course of the year I would carry around the HP books wherever I would go.  People would stop me on the street and say- "Is that Harry Potter?"  When I would explain that it was my first time reading it, I would get almost the same look from different strangers.  It was the look of envy and excitements's love child.  Meaning, everyone wished that they could read Harry Potter again for the first time.  I became closer with people at work because we could talk about Snape and Mrs. Weasley during our lunch break.  This wasn't a one time interaction.  We talked about different characters and plot sequences for weeks.  Not only did we chat about the novels, but I also was invited to learn about where they were at different life stages while they read the series.  Harry Potter was the bridge to learn a lot about my coworkers' adolescents. 

Many a night, Kaylyn and I will accidentally stay up late talking about the many themes of the novels and how the most important theme - sacrificial love conquers all, is ever present in the book. 

It is interesting how a solitary activity can make your social activities so much more rich.  I am looking forward to learning how inspiration scouting can help me connect and be a better friend to those in my life.  More to come!

Scouts Honor,

Kathleen

Hi Scouts,

What's a girl to do on a Wednesday night at 9:15 PM?  That's right, go to a movie by herself!  I started off my inspiration scouting  with an easy one.  Thankfully there is an independent movie theatre a 5 minute drive from my house, so a late night movie made sense.

I rolled up like a champ and got a parking spot right in the front of the theatre.  Not a lot of competition for parking for a midweek viewing.  I bought a ticket for the movie Iris, which I highly recommend. I could tell that they weren't expecting anyone to show up for Iris because the cleaning crew had already started their work in theatre 2.  I didn't realize how alone I would be  until I saw this:

All by myseeellllffff. Don't want to be all by my seeeeelllfff.

If you look closely, you can see the yellow trash can in the far left corner.  I sat in the exact center of the open seats.  I was a little creeped out in the beginning and kept looking over my shoulder at every small sound, but eventually enjoyed the freedom to eat my smuggled snowcaps in peace as the the previews started. Overall, I had an excellent time.

Two days later I continued my scouting at the Haymarket in downtown Boston.  Since I am working part time now while I attend grad school, my schedule has become more open to doing things alone.  On Friday afternoon, I decided to go on a local adventure.

Every Friday and Saturday in the summer,  a little nook of down town Boston opens up into a huge market.  Here you can get really fresh fruit for really low prices.  I spent $9 and got a pound of cherries, 5 peaches, blackberries, and a mango.  Talk about yum!  I come from a big fruit eating family, so I was in heaven.  It's also in a really cute part of town!

I took my spoils and sat in a public park and met a new friend named Alfie.

Alfie and I didn't talk long because I reminded myself that I was trying to enjoy being alone.  The rest of the afternoon I relished in the warm weather and read for my Ethics course.  

I am learning that doing things alone isn't as boring as I thought.  Turns out I am kind of looking forward to my next local adventure. Stay tuned.

Scouts Honor,

Kathleen

I Wrote This Alone

Hi Cyber World,

This blog post is long overdue. For the past couple of years I have had people tell me that I needed to write a blog. I'm lookin' at you Bree Curley.  In my defense, I did have a blog for awhile, but you know heartbreak, sorrow, yada yada yada, lead me to delete the old blog.  So I am back.  Maybe for good????  I am not sure yet. I am still testing this thing out.  See the thing is that I am trying to push myself to become more ok with a few things.  Let me start off by explaining my dilemma:

I. hate. being. alone.

I am not talking about being scared when I am home alone.  I am talking about I actually always want to be with people.  When I hear others say, "I just really need some alone time" or the even the ever confusingly enthusiastic " I have a date with myself!!," - I really don't get it.  I start to panic if I think about being alone for an entire weekend.  Even on Sunday nights when the rest of the world gives themselves a get out of jail free card for socializing, I still feel a need to be doing something, but more importantly doing something with people.  My extroversion just won't stop!  Like. Ever.

This lifestyle has been really fun the last couple of years.  I have made a lot of great friends in Boston, I have been on many trips, because Heaven forbid that I let a holiday pass without an out of state adventure, and I have been able to have a lot of fun experiences.

**disclaimer: I accidentally laid low for Memorial Day and it was the most depressed that I have been in awhile.  Not doing that again! Amiright?

The reason why I think that this is a problem is because as much as my friends may want to hang out, the responsibilities of jobs, relationships, and adult life can make difficult.  It's not sustainable.  So begins what I will call "inspiration scouting."  I looked it up on google and no one else has coined this phrase, so you are welcome internet.

With inspiration scouting I will try to figure out what is so fun about being alone sometimes.  As the Greeks say - "Know thy self." We'll see what happens.  I am very aware that I will probably write some things in this blog that will be cringe worthy to my 30 year old self, but oh well.  This won't be perfect.  Today I wrote down some things that might be fun to do by myself.  Take a look at it if you are interested.

I know that adult coloring books is weird, but apparently it is an up in coming trend....

Scouts Honor,

Kathleen