The past week has been devoted to getting my sister up and running in Seattle. This involves helping her get a cellphone, mapping out the bus routes, meeting up with her after work every day so we can scout out jobs, outfitting my pantry with vegan food options, and paying a large amount of money to have her homemade dreadlocks cut out of her head and turned into a cute hairstyle. I would post before and after hair pics but right now she’s working at her (hopeful) new job! Yup, within less then a week the kid got a job as a baker at a well-known vegan donut shop (don’t worry parents, she is pretty sure she’ll get sick of donuts pretty fast). I don’t know the details yet but I think this will be in addition to all the other groovy, artist-y jobs she’s applying for.

Having Gina around has been nice, if not a little stressful because I feel sooo responsible for her. We’ve been making vegan dinners every night (including a delicious crisp where the zucchini masqueraded as apples), taking long walks around the neighborhood, and debating everything from obesity in America to our childhoods. People continue to ask which one of us is older–which used to insult me when I was younger but now I take it as the deepest of flattery that I could pass for 22. The last time Gina and I lived together was 12 years ago–when I was 18 and she was 11. Now, as adults we navigate our way around our similarities and differences…she is beginning her life as a freshly graduated art student and I continue to plod through my career slightly envious of her freedom but relieved that I don’t have to flip donuts.

Oh, and Hobbes is deeply in love with Gina.