Whoa. I almost forgot all about this post! I’ve been writing a “currently” post every two months for nearly two years. This is the first one I didn’t have planned out in my heads weeks in advance. Not kidding. Usually I’ll be dealing with some random part of my life and think “oh, that’s definitely a ‘currently’ thing”. This time? None of that. None. Maybe it’s because I’ve been busy but really, I think it’s because I’ve been so focused on what’s happening in the exact moment I’m floating in that I literally have not taken the time to reflect. Maybe that’s a good thing, but I kind of miss looking back on the recent crazy of my life…so here goes!

While I really could not careless about the Green Bay Packers or the Wisconsin Badgers I have always been a pretty proud Wisconsin-ite. I love me some deep fried cheese curds + shake my head at California’s claim to happy cows. I’m from that broken mitten next to Michigan + I’m proud of it. However, I have exactly zero intentions to ever return to Wisconsin [or any Midwestern state, for that matter] for anything more than a visit. Just, no. The Midwest has its beautiful bits + pieces but the overall weather, culture and terrain just isn’t my jam.

When my count down to the “Last Day At Vail Resorts!” stumbled to an end I jumped right into my two weeks of…freedom. I was finally down to just one job! I had a sliver of free time and I could spend it however I wanted; not just sleeping! And that’s exactly what I did. It wasn’t until late last night that I realized this — on Monday I’m essentially saying “good-bye” to Colorado for…I have no idea how long. Oh, I’m excited, I’m ready for another bout of change and I have an incredible summer ahead of me.

However, I am going to miss Colorado! From the mountain views to the adventurous people to the winding trails to the local cafes….I’m going to miss Colorado and I am going to miss Summit County! Thankfully I’ve been a lucky duck and I’ve taken some serious advantage of my free time…

Oh, life. It sure can be a messy pile of reality checks and ironic laughter. The past few months have been nothing shy of a roller coaster…but not the let’s-see-how-many-people-puke roller coaster you know you made while playing Roller Coaster Tycoon. No, it’s been a much better, controlled chaos sort of roller coaster with just enough drops to get the adrenaline going before you’re back up on top. In other words, things have been good. Busy and a little crazy, but good. Really good.

“Are you alone?”

It sounds like a really simple question, right? I’ve been asked “are you alone” a handful of times while out on the trails and I never know how to answer. I mean, the person asking me sees only me on a wide open trail or next to an empty mountain hut…obviously I’m alone.

Every time I’ve been asked I impulsively answer with the truth. Yes. Yes, I’m out here in the middle of no where all by myself. There is no one to pick me back up when I fall, no one to navigate for me, no one to defend me against hungry critters or crazy humans…just me.

We kind of live in a world of all the photos. Between Instagram, Snapchat and plain ol’ texted photos there are a lot of reasons to take photos. And, yes, I take photos for all of those reasons. I have tens of thousands of photos floating around Google Photos, Dropbox and other nooks of the internet abyss. Sometimes they get shared, sometimes they just sit around feeling lonely until I get ambitious enough to scroll through them.

When I decided to make the move onto this site [rather than run.around.aroo, where my oversharing used to live] I started scrolling through old posts…and then through old photos. Holy drunk monkeys, a single photo can spark so many memories! If you already follow me on Instagram you’ve seen these photos but I really like them + the stories they come with so I’m re-sharing them here. Oh, the things that can happen in two years…

I think it’s a pretty safe assumption to say every “average” American out there has worked in customer service at some point. Whether it’s in a restaurant or call center or hospitality or retail…nearly everyone has worked in a “make them happy, even if they are being stupid” position at some point in their life. Yet, 90% of the population quickly forgets what it’s like to be in that position. They forgot that we really are doing everything in our power to make their life better and we don’t actually hate them…until they become ungrateful jerks.

I’ve worked in customer service since I was 16. I started behind the front desk of a hotel when I was in high school. It was my job to make sure people enjoyed their stay at a franchised hotel in a small Midwestern town. I quickly realized it’s all in how you delivery news…good or bad. I learned “hotel common sense”, found ways to portray myself confidently so guests trusted my words and discovered the value of the back office where I could roll my eyes while cursing at the unreasonably stubborn idiots.

Life has been crazy…a different kind of crazy than I’m usually giddy about. The “adulting” kind of crazy where everything revolves around going to work, working, washing clothes for work, making lunches for work and sometimes sleeping. Not exactly glamorous but I’m surviving and finding a way to enjoy it.

I’ve also found a little snippet of time to make a few changes here in my little corner of the internet! As of today runaroundaroo.com will be fading away while I spend my time writing + oversharing here, on heidikumm.com. I’ll give you no “growing up” or “moving on” explanation simply because I don’t have one. I wanted a change and this just kind of happened! You’ll notice both Instagram + Twitter have switched over to @heidikumm, too. Of course, run.around.aroo won’t be going anywhere, it’s fun to scroll back through old photos + recaps + stories, it just won’t be updated from here on out. Update your readers and all that jazz…because, why not?!

Every time someone asks how I feel about cities I always say “oh, I’m a country girl” because I truly am. I love the space, the freedom, the silence and the ability to leave your blinds open because there are no neighbors nearby. The country is awesome, whether it’s a flat grassland or a lumpy mountain range, it’s where my heart truly is.

According to my Facebook wall the end of the year is nearing…it’s full of photo collages + links to everyone’s “Year in Review”. Just for funsies I dug through a bunch of weird ads to offer up my life to an app so I could see my year in review, according to Facebook. As the screen blinked “analyzing” I got excited…maybe Facebook would remind me of some crazy day I completely forgot about. I wanted to relive that moment! Instead, it gave me a lot of selfies and nothing I had the chance to forget about it. The selfies probably say more about me than I care to admit but I was far more disappointed by how much this silly FB app missed…so I’m making my own little recap of 2015, based on the moments that were really important to me.