Heavy Hitting

Right now, it’s a pivotal point in my career. The OG wants to offer me a full time position. The Consulting Co. (CC) would LOVE to offer me something full time but isn’t quite sure how she can work it at the moment. And an ad-agency that’s working on our website at the OG wants to hire me full time. I get weekly calls from recruiters who are interested in giving me project work. I’m in high demand.

In talking with my boss at CC, she offered up an awesome alternative solution. One of our major clients is a Consumer Packaged Goods company and they’re looking for a transitional person and/or someone to work 20 hours a week. It would be an amazing transition for me in my career. This would put me on a path to do what I’ve wanted to do (work on a major brand) and lead me into the big giants like Pepsi Co, Dr Pepper Snapple Group, and Frito Lay.

I also had a conversation today with the lady who is the international liaison for the worldwide portion of the company I worked for in Atlanta. I told her my project idea for the international partners and she thought it was great! She also thought it would be a good time to bring it up to the 'powers that be' because of the company's position at the moment and the timing of their next global meeting. This could be promising...

I’m on a mission.

I’m dead set on being the best I can be.

Going out and partying, living it up, blowing money on going out (and putting on the pounds), doing reckless and wild things – that’s not me. And that’s what I’ve been portrayed as to those that don’t know me well. My (not at work) friends don’t know the giving me. They don’t know the domesticated, creative, professional, talented me. All they know is the fun-loving, drunk, isn’t afraid of anything me… and that’s scary.

So, tonight, I didn't go out. I stayed in and talked to a boy. (that's so 9th grade of me...) I actually enjoyed this Friday night, too. Tomorrow, I'll work out, do some chores, and take care of some things. Hopefully it'll be sunny so I can lay by the pool a little. It'll be a nice day of relaxation before all of the heavy hitting I've got lined up for next week!

10 Things I accomplished today

1. I went to lunch with some really good friends I haven't seen in a while. One of which is getting married next week - and the other has a small baby. Perhaps this makes things a bit difficult for us to get together regularly! ;) Anyway, went to lunch with them and they gave me a tiffany's butterfly pendant for my graduation! It's GORGEOUS and oh so perfect. They even wrote a little hai-ku about me spreading my wings now that I've graduated. Love them!!

2. Took a nap. Hehe. Yep. Love me some sleep!

3. Cleaned the kitchen...

4. Then washed my car (by hand)...

5. Ran some errands...

6. Did some laundry...

7. I went roller blading tonight for the first time since the accident. It was a mix between being scared shitless from not being able to stop and the how hot it's been. Tonight was perfect weather. Working at the restaurant and running around all the time has given me incredible stamina, too. I used to only be able to go around my park 2 - MAYBE 3 - times in one session. I made at least 4 laps and then walked another lap afterward. This may become a regular thing if I can keep THAT up!!

8. I got home and made some oatmeal raisin cookies that are, in Rachel Ray's words, Yum-O!

9. I've been working on my Italy scrapbook since and have a few pages done. I heart scrapbooking!

Ok, I think that's enough for one day!!

Crazy random update

So I had four very good topics to write about tonight, but I'm just not feelin it. In fact, I'm just not feelin much as of late. In my last post, I talked to you about a few things going on - believe me, there's much more! Hopefully, one day VERY soon, these posts can be funny little nothings that you all enjoy reading on the regular.

To update, I got a new roommate tonight. Someone super awesome responded to my craigslist ad and decided to take the place. She moves in August 17 or so.

Michael left earlier this week and I'm deeply saddened. He was the basis for most of what I did in my non-work and non-school time, so we'll see how this all goes. He had his first meeting today at his new job and that went well. Hooray for him!

I went into the restaurant today and two very fabulous people in my life came in for lunch. They were super sweet and tipped me a ridiculous amount of money which was completely uncalled for. Anyway, I didn't lose my job. The general manager was, as usual, bitchy about it. Gotta love her life, right?

My little saff-ster who likes to play with other kitties outside has brought back something little and annoying with her. Fleas. I fucking hate fleas. I suppose I need to get a new flea collar for her and get rid of these little pests before it gets out of control. They multiply like rabbits. Only quicker.

So... I graduated. Technically, but not officially. I had my last class last night with a presentation. One of our group members completely bombed her portion of the presentation because she showed up for our practice 45 minutes late. Heh. Good thing for Peer Evals. I should know by Saturday what my grade is in this class. I'm thinking it's going to be a B+. I will be completely shocked if I get an A- or something.... that would mean Dean's list two semesters in a row.

I have a list of movies to see at the theater a mile long. The Ugly Truth, The Proposal, Julie and Julia, Humpday, 500 days of summer, Funny People, The Time Traveler's Wife... etc. That's 7 movies at 10 bucks a pop... I might just be waiting until their DVD release. How can they do that to us and release SO MANY great movies all at one time?!

I've been listening to a few fabulous songs recently. Perhaps you might want to check them out too...

The Kings of Leon - Sex on Fire
James Morrison feat. Nelly Furtado - Broken Strings
JES - My love
The Pussycat Dolls - Jai Ho
Chris Lake - If you knew
The Kings of Leon - Use Somebody
Carrie Underwood - Wasted
Lady Sovereign - So Human
Safetysuit - Stay

So that's about it for me. Like I said earlier, I'll probably start to update this neglected blog more frequently as I become me again. ;)

10 [exciting] Things about this week...

1. You know that study abroad program I've been talking about for, like, ever now??!? WELLLllllll... I had an interview (impromptu, might I add) with the sponsor of the trip and he wants me to go!!! So that means I'm accepted into the program and I get to go to Italy for Maymester!!! This also means other great things for my school stuff. I only have to take ONE class this summer and I'll be done! Which means I'll technically be able to start working as much as I'd like and that'll be fabulous! I'm going to need it to pay off the cost of this trip, but it's so worth it! I got the good news yesterday and I couldn't be more excited.

2. Carrie comes to see me in exactly 27 days. OMG, it's finally here!! I cannot WAIT!! We're going to go see Confessions of a Shopaholic (I'm so glad she's waiting to see it with me - you have NO idea how big of a deal it is for her to actually wait to see a movie!)

3. Michael invited me to go HOME with him to meet his parents, etc. (yes, HOME is a different city and state and timezone...) This just happened today. Ummmm I kinda freaked out for a second but I'm really excited! We had actually planned this for the Christmas holidays but it didn't end up working out like that. So, he wanted to go for a short weekend in two weeks for his son's birthday and wants me to come. That's $180 round trip for a plane ticket. I feel like it's worth it, though. :) This is a huge step in our relationship, by the way...

4. I called my credit card company (the one I have with the whopping almost 6 grand in fun money on it) and had my interest rate lowered from 18.9 (who the fuck has an 18.9% interest rate with my credit score?!) to 3.99.... fabulous!! I don't know why I never thought to ask for a lower interest rate before. I just thought that's what you had to pay. I've been hearing from other people that they've called and now have been able to pay off their card - instead, I feel like I've been paying them a shit ton of interest these past few years. :)

5. Blaire is moving back to the city THIS WEEKEND!! I'm SO excited for her! She'll be closer and I'll be able to see her more often :)

6. Rae moved out a week ago and I'm still looking for a roommate. I've posted an ad on craigslist but haven't found anything just yet... gotta keep looking!

7. My Nutrition class was supposed to have a test on Tuesday. My teacher sent an email (that I didn't get) and said we were going to have it next week instead... this means I get more time to prepare for it. MUCH needed, thank you! I absolutely LOVE this class. I give Carrie the good scoop every Tuesday once I get out.

8. I start my nanny job on Monday. I'll be making about 300 bucks a week for about 20 hours (FABULOUS!!) and then I have Thursday mornings and Saturday nights at the restaurant. That should make up the difference for all of my bills. :) I can't wait to start this nanny job - I'm going to have so much homework time - I'll actually be caught up with all of my classes.

9. I finally have all of my W2's and can go get my taxes done. I'm a bit timid about it because of the work I did for one of my marketing projects over the summer. I made about 3,000 with them and didn't pay taxes on it at the time - I hope it's not a huge whammy this time!

10. I went to my small group thing (DEFINITELY going to love it... not what I thought initially) on Tuesday night. The girls are really nice and I think I'm going to connect with at least some of them. I volunteered to host the next one on Tuesday at my house, so hopefully that will go well! :)

Wow. It's been such a great week... I love it! I can't wait for all of this fun stuff to happen! I've got to go ahead and get my passport (yep, almost 25 and don't have a passport yet...) so I'll have it for my trip. That's another hundred bucks right there!!

I hope you all have had a lovely week and have a fabulous weekend! :)

10 Things I love about moving.

Sense the sarcasm. Please!
1. You find new muscles you didn't even know you had.
2. You're unable to take a "good" shower in the morning so you look ratty all day. (If Michael still loves me after that, I know it's real! haha)
3. Gas is SO freaking expensive. Actually, Saturday was the day it was most expensive. I bought about 35 gallons that day. And my car was still on E where I left it the day before.
4. Stairs. Ugh.
5. Packing until 5 am only to wake up and move at 9 am.
6. Packing.
7. New Roommates.
8. Not being able to find anything because you put it in a box where you "knew you'd remember" where it was.
9. Changing addresses at every institution you belong to. You forget how many that is until you try to do all of this.
10. Cleaning. Yah, the new place you're moving in to is spic-n-span... but the old place, there's dust you didn't even know about.

I'm sure the list continues on... but that's it for now. If you've got to move any time in the near future, I feel for ya!!!

Homework bound...

I'm sure you read my post about going back to school full time.

The original plan was to go back this fall, take out a loan, etc. etc... but it's not quite panning out that way.

I registered for classes yesterday. They start June 9. Exactly 8 weeks from Monday. This is all happening so quick, it's ridiculous. I've got plans every weekend up until then... birthday stuff, moving, an awards show i'm on the board of, a wedding, a company picnic... and a whole lot more.

Amber said it best... "you're going to feel SO free once you're only going to school and not juggling it with everything else." I most certainly agree. :)

I don't think I'll feel absolutely free - because I'll still have to do homework and projects and papers. I'll just feel better knowing that I can actually accomplish something. Such a great feeling :)

On a side note, my great-grandmother went into the hospital as I was leaving for San Diego. My mom called to tell me the news really quick. Thankfully, Michael had a flight to Dallas at the same time - so he was with me and could give me a much needed hug. She's a-ok but had some heart troubles at the time.

I think going to school will allow me to have more time to spend with my family... especially those who might not be around much longer. :)

10 Things I accomplished this weekend

Today is such a gorgeous day. It got up to the mid-seventies... it was sunny, not too windy... I feel great because I got to sleep in... ahhh... spring is here :)

1. I saw my sister hit two home runs at her softball scrimmage.
2. I went roller blading for 2 hours (ahh... felt so nice!) Funny story... I saw a guy on roller blades at the park in a lime green dress. Yep. More stuff about my park here. Michael even wants to go to the park to roller blade with me! Hooray!
3. I picked up the Girl Scout cookies I sold at work for my sister. Those fatties ordered 50 something boxes. Hah. Gotta love 'em though. They're all nice people. ;)
4. My roommate moved out. Finally... thankfully...
5. I have been working some this afternoon... and getting a ton accomplished... sitting on the porch outside with my laptop. I should do this every day!
6. I made a new friend. A new GIRL friend, thankfully. She's suuuuper cool and we talked for a little while. Hopefully it'll work out and I'll have a new buddy in town. It's been ridiculous with Carrie and M.Moon on the other side of the world practically.
7. I went to Verizon wireless and told them how much my phone sucked because it's 2 years old and they gave me another one. Hooray!
8. I signed the lease on my new place with my new roommate. It's her birthday today (well, it's also my sister's birthday today).
9. I got to see an old friend and hang out with some really cool people at my new roommate's birthday party.
10. I stopped by an old friend's house... whose parents are like my second parents that I love dearly. It was great to catch up.

It's a nice day outside.
C'est un beau jour dehors.

140 lb update

I've been really good about eating really healthy and not eating when I'm not hungry. (which, my friends, is the CORRECT way to diet) Either way, it's all paid off. Considering I haven't been able to get the park recently because it's been so increidbly cold, I think I'm doing really well.

My scale fluctuates between 145 and 150. I'm EXTREMELY happy about that. My scale isn't entirely accurate about anything so I can't really tell you the exact weight. The times I've quoted before were done on another, more accurate scale at the house I nanny at.

Sometime mid last week, I put on a pair of my work pants that happened to be an 8 and they were extremely baggy. I was a little bummed because I LOVE those pants, but really happy because I can fit now into some of my old pants that I loved that are 6's. Hell yah!

I went to Michael's on Friday night and the first thing he said to me was "Wow. Did you lose another 20 lbs today?? You look GREAT!" That made me feel really good... and he was being honest. :)

I also received another compliment from someone I work with. She goes out of town a lot so there are sometimes weeks that I don't see her. That happened to be the case for the past few weeks, so we hadn't seen each other. She said that she noticed the weight gone. She's a vegan (more hardcore than I am) too, so she's very happy about it!

So there you have it. I'm pretty happy about the current situation. I feel better about myself and people that I care about are noticing as well. I know I'm not completely there yet, but you can't lose 19 lbs overnight!!

Success story at its finest

This past weekend, my 3rd company meeting planning experience became another success story. I always get the "friday night activity" to plan on my own - which is always the most fun (and I get the most freedom with money, too).

I am a humble person when it comes to taking compliments from a job well done (because I didn't single-handedly create the whole meeting, as some people make it out to be), so I usually say thank you and move on. I'm sure next week will be full of these compliments. I'll make sure I take them with everything I've done and smile because I have completed a job well done.

With that said, I did a great job pulling together such a grandiose [if that's even a word] all-hands meeting and Friday night event. Our theme was Dr. Seuss' 'Oh the places you'll go' and it was SO much fun. :)

I feel accomplished!

Something I'm going to start doing... a phrase of the day. Hopefully, i'll be able to update every day, but if not, at least every post.

Quelle belle journée!
What a lovely day! ;)