Never have I ever...

...had a big girl, Monday through Friday, 8-5 job before now. But I have almost completed my first week of being in the big girl world!

And DAAAYYYYUUUMMM, ya girl is tired.

Seiously, I love my new job. There are so many things that make it awesome, and I think it's only going to get better. I am going through a three month training process right now, and each week or so I am getting a little more responsibility put on me. But from the word go, I have been slammed. I mean non-stop. I never in a million years thought 8-5 would go by so fast! I can't imagine how busy and hectic things are going to be when I am fully responsible for everything.

But right now, my brain is pretty much mush. I have information overload. And I can't possibly imagine how long it is going to take me to get used to this schedule. Going from a bartending job and retail-type schedule before...this is a complete 180 for me, and my body is slow to adjust!

Oh, but wait. The girl training me, who held this position before...? Well, I found out yesterday she is getting married in two weeks, and will then be on her honeymoon for a week. FREAK OUT TIME.

In two weeks, I have to be (sort of) able to do everything by myself and that has me over here hyperventilating just a wee bit.

Anyways, I know the other lovely people I work with will be there to help me if I need it, and I will make it. I am just so thankful for this job, and how perfect it is.

I promise to get back on the blogging train after I get through this first work week, my little baby brother graduating from high school TONIGHT, and this awesome three day weekend!

Thanks for all the positive thoughts and prayers y'all sent my way during interviews, the waiting process and this first week!! :)

Weekend Shenanigans...and day 1 of my new job!

I'm writing this post tonight like a good little blogger because I know I won't be able to do it tomorrow morning.

Why?

Because it's my first day at my new job!!

I am finally getting excited and nervous, and I should seriously be asleep right now because 5:30am is going to come so early.

So, while you're looking at all these pics from my weekend shenanigans, send some good thoughts my way that this first day is going well!!

one. attempted to tint some mason jars...not too sure about the outcome, so I think I will be trying it again.

two. ella has grown so much since we saw her about 2 weeks ago :(

three. tinted jar chandelier at breakfast friday morning...love!

four. b was still adjusting to the jet lag, and woke up at 5am friday, the day after getting back from europe. how does he make it up to me? by taking me to get possibly the best breakfast in athens (at 7am...)

five. lots and lots of mama's boy coffee was required after getting up so early.

six. baby ella bella learning new tricks.

seven. spent a little time on the lake friday and saturday...while the weather cooperated.

eight. ella is working on her modeling portfolio.

nine. seriously though, how perfect is she?!

How was your weekend?!

MIA

Holy sickness.

I have felt like a totally different person lately. aka miserable.

I feel like I need to do a week recap so far, because I haven't shown my face around these parts since Saturday. Saturday! Oops. Although there's not much to say since I've spent most of the week so far in bed...

So, here we go. Monday I had to say goodbye to sweet little Ella baby after spending less than a day with her. Then I had to take B to the airport and say goodbye to him, too. So sad.

How cute are my babies?!

 And yes, I have been a little crybaby since then. I miss just being able to talk to him whenever I want. No text messages are allowed, and I just have to wait until it's convenient for him to call me. I have no clue how all these amazing women deal with their significant others being in the military and not having normal communication with them. I really do not think I could do that. It takes an insanely strong individual and my heart and admiration goes out to each and every one of you!

Tuesday was all normal and boring...until I got a migraine. Cue bedtime at 4pm. And then this migraine just turned right into some lovely little stomach flu/virus/bug thing that just doesn't want to go away. Wednesday, I thought my life was over. (Yes, I'm being overly dramatic, I know...)

But I was mis. And I'm still not completely back to normal. But at least I have enough energy to get out of bed and make it to the couch. Baby steps, y'all, baby steps.

Anyways, enough whining. I have to work my last Saturday doing promos ever this weekend and I am soo excited. After this weekend, I have a week off of work, B comes home Thursday, and then next Monday is the big day..I start life in the real world!

Big news!!

So yesterday, pretty much the best thing ever happened.

I got a job offer.

Finally.

The past year has been full of ups and downs for me, which I know is just part of life. However, I feel like there were waaaay more downs than ups. 

But hopefully, this well help that trend swing to more ups and less downs!

I just realized today that next week will mark 2 years since I graduated from college. That is insane to me.

Right after I graduated, I started an internship that wound up lasting 8 months. So I didn't really start my job search in earnest until January of last year. I still had my part-time job from college, and I was living in Athens and everything was ok for awhile.

Then, my job started cutting hours as a way to help meet budget. Which meant all part-timers could work no more than 12 hours a week. Who can live on that?! 

All during that time, I was searching for a job, especially one that would allow me to stay there in Athens close to everyone, and everything, that I love. But for whatever reason, that wasn't meant to be. I couldn't find a job, and when my lease was up, I wound up moving home.

At no point in my life did I expect to be living at home at the age of 25. At no point did I expect to just be really beginning my career at the age of 25. And at no point did I expect to be dating a guy two years younger than me and still in school at 25.

But ya know what I've learned?

That when it comes to God's timing and plans, the only thing you should expect is the unexpected. Because it's not up to me. I have absolutely no clue as to why I had to spend the last year and a half searching for a job, living at home, and working jobs I hated.

I have no clue why He led me to this particular job, which is not at all what I expected, and is in a location I never in a million years planned to be.

But I do believe that one day down the road I will look back on these times and this job and I will get it. I will see the lessons I was supposed to have learned during the struggle of job hunting. I will realize the purpose of being at this job, and what it leads me to.

It's all going to come in His timing, and be revealed in His way, not mine. I just have to be patient, and trusting.

Right now though, more than anything, I am so, so thankful!

Introducing Ella! ...and my favorite pins this week.

Hi friends.

I have been MIA this week...my bad. Monday was cray at work...I was making phone calls allllll day. I've tried to blog while spending a lot of time on the phone, and I finally had to quit. It never fails that I wind up saying something I'm typing to the person I'm talking to. Not cool.

And yesterday, I had a second-round job interview! I should know something by this Friday...I am super nervous. I can't really function normally because I can't stop thinking about it.

But first...I have big news! If you follow me on Twitter or Instagram, you already know...

How cute is this little baby girl?!

Ella is our new little black lab puppy! And by 'our,' I mean she is my boyfriend's, B. And since she is his, she's kinda mine, too, ya know? 

I don't get to meet her until Sunday though (another perk of a LDR...not.) I can't wait. I have a feeling I'm going to fall in love, and it's going to be so hard to leave her every time I have to come back home. It's just one more thing I'm going to miss...boo.

Stay tuned for more Ella pics next week...I'm sure there will be a million after I actually get to meet her!

Now, on to my favorite pins as of late...it is always soo hard for me to pick just a few!

Weekend Shenanigans, and other randomness...

Yay for another boring weekend with not too many shenanigans! HA

I feel like I say that pretty much every Monday morning. Is it getting old yet?! My bad. It's true though, which is really sad.

This weekend B was super busy with school stuff...it's almost the end of the semester, so I think we all know how that goes.

So, I stayed home and hung out with the fam for most of the weekend (which explains the whole pretty-much-no-shenanigans thing.)

The one fun thing...my little bro had his senior prom Friday night! I didn't get to see him off the past two years because I was living in Athens, so it was fun for me to be able to go.

The pictures the girls in the middle are holding are of one of their best friends that they all grew up with...he passed away when they were in middle school from leukemia. But they have all done a great job of still including his memory and his family in everything they do.

They had a huge group go together...this isn't even all of them! Seeing everyone's pretty dresses and hair is so much fun now that I never have any reason to do that!

There group was so big they took a coach/tour bus looking gigantic thing. I mean, what happened to just normal limos?! And yes, this thing had a stripper pole...

The prom was in the Grand Ballroom at the Georgia Aquarium...isn't this the cutest little picture ever with the beluga whales?! And please notice my brother's caption for the picture...he is quite the little comedian.

So, that's pretty much it for the excitement from this weekend. Saturday I worked an event at the Mall of Georgia, which is so not close to my house (unfortunately for me, fortunate for my bank account...)

While we're talking about how far away that was, let's take a minute to talk about Atlanta traffic. If you're from here or live here, you know. It is the devil. And as if the regular, every day traffic wasn't enough, I run into random things constantly that just aren't normal. Twice in the past 3 days, the interstate I needed to be on was completely closed. What is that?!

So Saturday I was supposed to be at the Mall of Georgia at about 11:30. I left in plenty of time to make that happen. I had 2 choices of how to go - the perimeter around Atlanta (285) or straight through Atlanta (the connector/75/85). I decided to go the connector because no one said anything about it being messy on the radio, and for pretty  much the past year there has been road work on 285 every weekend. So I head through Atlanta, and guess what?! Someone called in a suspicious package, and 85 was SHUT DOWN. So of course, everyone and their brother was trying to get on 400, the only other option, and guess what now?! They were doing construction there, too, so it was only 1 lane for a few miles. It sucked. Needless to say, I was not on time for that...

Fast forward to this morning. Obviously, I expect Monday mornings to suck. But I am lucky enough to not have to be in the office until 10am, which means I usually have a pretty easy ride to work. But not today. Today, a car was on fire (I have no idea if there was someone inside or if everyone was ok...I can only hope and pray that no one was seriously injured. I know my complaining about traffic seems insignificant in comparison) and my entire side of 285 was shut down. There was well over an hour worth of delays to go about 10-15 miles, and over 10 miles of bumper to bumper traffic sitting at a dead stop on the interstate for most of the morning. So I headed towards my alternate route, the connector. And it was backed up onto I20, with lots and lots of traffic and delays, too! So, I wound up having to drive all the way through Atlanta on I20 and up 285 on the complete other side to get to 85 and Norcross. It was a long morning...

To sum it all up...don't ever try to go anywhere on time with me. It just doesn't happen.

And while we're on a depressing note...can we please all have a moment of silence for my missing May Designs planner? I am devastated. I feel lost, I have no idea what's going on in my life, and I have no clue where to be and when. It's not a good feeling.

And finally, the last little bit of all this randomness...and it's positive, too! I couldn't end it on a depressing note, especially not with all of the negativity and heartache of the last week. But today...I got a call back for a second interview!! My initial interview went really well last week, and I really like the company and environment, and I think it would be a great place to really start my career. So again, please keep your fingers crossed and say a prayer for me!!

Weekend Shenanigans...better late than never!

Sooo I am super behind today on getting this post up...whoops. I don't know why I have been so slow. But it's ok. Better late than never, right?!

Here is a very quick recap of my weekend.

Did my own nails for a change and tried to make a little half moon mani with NARS Orgasm polish.

Had my first pool day of the year and it was glorious (minus the fact that I put on a little tanning oil, and was covered in pollen within about 5 minutes...)

Saturday was the first ever concert in Sanford Stadium, and it was part of Jason Aldean's Night Train tour. It was pretty awesome and I really wish I had more pictures. But I was trying to just be in the moment and enjoy my day! We started the day off tailgating on North Campus, and then headed to the stadium around 6. We saw Thomas Rhett, Jake Owen, Luke Bryan, and then of course Jason Aldean (with a special appearance by the one and only Ludacris!) I just wish it could have lasted soo much longer!

They couldn't sell alcohol of any kind in the stadium of course, so we made it our mission to see how many mini bottles we could fit into one pair of cowboy boots.

Jason Aldean!

Panoramic view of Sanford during the concert!

I did not want this weekend, or all the time I was getting to spend with B, to come to an end! 

Ohhh...side note! I have a job interview in the morning. Please say a prayer, keep your fingers crossed, and whatever else works for you. I haven't been on a job interview in several months and I am super nervous!

Overwhelmed

I am extremely overwhelmed right now. 

I just sent in my resignation to my job. Without a sure-thing to take it's place.

You're probably wondering why I would do something so stupid drastic. So I guess it's time to get a little personal here...

Once upon a time, I graduated from college with a degree in PR. Immediately following graduation, I had an awesome internship that wound up lasting about 5 months longer than I originally planned. It was supposed to be just a summer thing, but the person over me left her position while I was interning, so I basically took her position to finish out the rest of the year. I was interning at a chamber of commerce for a town that was located on a lake, so summer and fall was their busiest season. Because of that, they didn't want to go through the hiring process and bring someone new in during that time period. So, I filled in while they waited. I applied for the position, and over the course of a month or so, and several rounds of interviews, they had it narrowed down to myself and one other lady. And unfortunately for me, I wasn't chosen. The other candidate had previously owned her own business, and had 20+ years of experience in the business world. And with a chamber's primary focus being to grow the business community, she was obviously better equipped at doing that.

So, I continued working at the job I had been working all through college (and even during my internship period), while searching for a full-time job. I started off looking in Athens, where I was living and didn't want to leave, but it didn't take long to realize that opportunities in Athens were limited, and my job search expanded to Atlanta and the surrounding area. During this time, my job was cutting hours (I was working in retail, and it was the slow season). By the beginning of the next summer after I graduated, I knew that my one part-time job was no longer enough to support me living in Athens on my own (especially since it was time to start paying back student loans), and that it was time to make a move. So I made the very tough decision at this point to leave Athens, and move home. Home being a small town west of Atlanta. Not cool.

Thankfully, my best friend from high school had a job opportunity for me bar tending at a new place in Buckhead, which I immediately took. My first thoughts were this will be fun, I should make lots of money working in that area, and hopefully I will make some good contacts that could potentially lead to a "real" job. Because at this point, I had been out of school for a year, and job opportunities in the PR industry were few and far between. None of us imagined when we graduated high school in 2006 that by the time we graduated college in 2010 (or later, if you took a victory lap like me!) that the economy would be so very  bad, and that finding a job would be so very hard. So of course, I took any opportunities that were handed to me, and this one came along at exactly the right time.

At first, it was all good. We worked lots of hours when we first opened the restaurant, but we made lots of money and had a pretty good time. Everyone was excited about the new place and we quickly became a new 'hot spot,' so we stayed busy and made even more money. And since I was living at home, I finally had a new sense of financial freedom that I hadn't had in college. (I don't know about you guys, but I was constantly broke while in school!)

But then things started going downhill. Y'all, my boss is was crazy. She was young, had no managing experience, she's immature, and I swear she had multiple personalities. I have never worked for someone so rude and disrespectful and demeaning. She was constantly flying off the handle over the most random stuff, and no one ever knew how to act around her. It quickly became miserable. I'm talking, there were days I cried at work because of the way she talked to me or miserable it was. I was literally almost sick to my stomach each day that I had a shift there because of how bad I didn't want to go. I absolutely hated it. And I know that the majority of my coworkers hated it just as bad as I did.

So, after several events over the past few weeks that are all long stories on their own, I finally got to my breaking point. I have lost all respect for my boss, and I am tired of being miserable. And today, I quit. 

I do have an internship right now, doing PR and events for a company in Atlanta, that pays me a small amount. And I have another opportunity in the works that will hopefully pan out. So say a prayer for me, please. Say a prayer that I made the right decision to get out of a toxic situation, that I will be financially able to survive right now, and that the opportunities I currently have will lead to an amazing career for me (or at least a good full-time job).

I know this post is long and SUPER boring, and I'm sorry. But I just have so many emotions going on inside me right now, and I know my family and boyfriend are tired of hearing me whine about this situation! But I had to get this last little bit out. I believe that I did take that job for a reason, and that there were lessons to be learned during my 6 months there. I believe that God had a purpose for me being there, even though I don't know right now what exactly the purpose was, or exactly what lesson I was there to learn. I imagine at some point down the road, it will probably become clear. But for now, I am just thankful that I had the job to get me through a tough transition period, and I'm even more thankful that now it's over.

Monday morning dreamin'

I will go ahead and admit it now...I listen to country music. Like, 80% of the time. And I love it.

Kenny Chesney's new song, Pirate Flag, just recently hit the air...and I love it, too.

And on this Monday morning, I have to admit that this song has me dreaming about being anywhere but here. I mean, right now it's freeeezing outside, it snowed most of this weekend, and it's March in Georgia. Not cool. I am ready for spring, and warm weather, and cute, bright clothes, and the water!

All of those things would be great. But what this song really makes me want to do is escape to the islands forever. We all know that's what 99% of Kenny Chesney's songs are about, and the more I think about, the more I've decided he may be on to something here. I have been daydreaming about giving up the city life, the 'real job,' and grownup responsibilities, and instead living a carefree life somewhere on the sand.

I probably wouldn't have a lot of money, but then again, if I was living somewhere like this, I don't really think I'd need much.

Where are you dreaming of escaping to on this Monday morning?