...Remember Me?

I cannot believe how long it's been since I last blogged. It's horrible.

This is me trying to keep track of my life.

In the last month, I have been getting accustomed to my new job, I have officially moved, spent a week (yes, WEEK!) without internet, washed more dishes/pots/pans/appliances in my new place than I care to count, and fallen asleep pathetically early during the week, only to go back to my parents' house every weekend to pack up all my stuff, attend Christmas parties, and continue on my path to the proverbial Loony Bin.

Whew.

I'm exhausted.

The holidays have completely suprise-attacked me. I am no where near as decked out in Christmas decorations at my new digs as I'd like to be, and I feel like I do not, and will never, have enough time to decorate before, you guessed it, I make the trek back home for Christmas.

It is for this reason that I have decided I need an unpaid personal assistant intern. He or she would need to feed my coffee addiction while keeping me headed in the correct direction, keep my schedule straight, and go grocery shopping for me (because honestly, it is not fun to live on a college diet of pizza and Ramen noodles anymore. It was fine before I had my dishes unpacked, but this is getting unreasonable).

And so help me if I have to make one more trip to Target to get a random assortment of things I can't seem to remember to write on my ever-growing list. I mean, come on, why do I keep forgetting to buy trash bags?! Wal-Mart bags are only going to work for so long until I get irritated with going to the dumpster every other day because the bag is full.

Ay.


As I look at the clock, I am realizing that I am in my 20s and thinking "gee, it's getting kind of late"...and it's 8:00. Must remember to negotiate a mandatory nap time meeting at work. Maybe after HR just laughed when I proposed my personal intern idea, they would go for this one. I'd consider it a Christmas miracle.

Anyone else feel blindsided by the calendar this year??

Moving Up In The World

Well, gone are the days of endless wonder as to what I want to do with my life...for now. Today, I completed my first day at work on my real, grown-up job, and I loved it. There was so much to take in and lots to be done, but I really think this will turn out to be a great fit for me.

So what is it that I do, exactly? Great question. My title is Volunteer Coordinator, and my job description is essentially to be determined...intimidating, right? This is a brand new position, and all I (and my boss!) really know is that I need to find, recruit, and maintain volunteers for some awesome programs in four counties, and perhaps an additional three. I'll be talking, driving, calling, emailing, and organizing like mad. I'll be writing my own job description as I shape and mold the position into something vital to the organization. Breathe. I must remember to breathe.

At this point, easier said than done.

The good news is that I have volunteered since I can remember. I love it. Volunteering could be a career path for me if it weren't for the fact that I actually need to, you know, survive. I've been that volunteer wiping down nasty food-covered lunch tables and I've been the volunteer passing out prizes or meeting some awesome people. I've volunteered with kids, cancer patients, seniors, kids with disabilities, people with mental illnesses, and poverty-stricken people of all kinds of backgrounds. You name it, I've probably volunteered with it--or know someone who has. Here's to hoping all of that gives me some sort of special insight as to what makes volunteers tick, what tugs at their heartstrings, and what it is that they love.

Oh yeah, and maybe that psychology degree will come in handy. Let me take a  moment to point out how excited I am to actually be able to use my degrees to help people. It always makes me sad when people can't use the degrees they worked so hard and paid so much to get. Boo.

So fingers crossed that I can knock this job out of the park and learn a lot along the way...preferably not the hard way, but life is funny about that sometimes, huh?

Long Time, No Blog!

Wow, last week completely got away from me. Things are busy, busy, busy around here as I try to get organized and packed, in addition to getting in extra family and friend time. Whew!

Here's a little more good news: I found an apartment I like, finally, so I can officially discontinue my worries about being a nomad in the dead of winter. At least I know I'll be warm at night!

My apartment searching was certainly an adventure. I had my heart set on one complex that I had found online which was not far from where I will be working. A word to the wise: don't get your heart set on a complex you find online. When I arrived to walk through a model apartment, I was surprised at just how run down the place actually looked. While my mom and I waked through the apartment, we couldn't help but be completely grossed out by the smokey smell (I absolutely cannot stand the smell of smoke) and the full, stinking trash bags that were laying in the hallway. Seriously? Who could live with smelly garbage like that? Yuck. Aside from that was the fact that the apartment definitely did not have all the features the website listed. Boo.

The next one was even dirtier. Not cool. The young man that was showing me the model apartment had his sales pitch down, though, I will say that. Unfortunately for him, I have a psychology degree, so I learned all those tricks, meaning I was not about to fall for them. For example, the "so do you think you can picture yourself cooking a meal in this kitchen?" is a great way to get people thinking that yes, they could and why would they not sign a lease there?! Except that I definitely could not see myself cooking in that kitchen. There was barely enough room to turn around, and counter space was virtually nonexistent, which is very bad for someone like me who prepares food using every spare dish and inch of counter space. Wah, wah, wahhh.

Finally, I went to the third apartment complex. My boyfriend had called after we saw the second one, and I was quite concerned when I talked to him that I would never find the right place, because even the ones we drove by were less than ideal. I had a little mini panic on the phone, thinking I was doomed to live the life of a homeless nomad who wandered from place to place searching for a more permanent residence.

Thankfully, everything worked out and I think I'm going to love this new place...now I just have the overwhelming task of picking furniture to fill it, wish me luck!

Bittersweet Beginnings

I have some big news. Well, the word has been spreading quite quickly, so I suppose by now it is entirely possible that everyone knows, but what the heck, I'll announce it here anyway:

I got a job!

A real one. A full-time one. A big kid job.

Great news, right? Of course! It will be so nice to finally be able to stop worrying about finding something permanent, and I'm so very excited to start this one. At the same time, though, it's all very bittersweet. See, everything I'm used to is here. Not two hours away where I'll be moving. The kids I work with every day, though they frustrate and exhaust me to no end sometimes, have endeared themselves to me so quickly, I am already mentally preparing to say my goodbyes. I have no doubt there will be tears, and most definitely a lump in my throat that refuses to allow me to speak in a normal tone of voice. I'm absolutely no good at goodbyes.

Not only that, but my family is all right here. Well, most of my family. How will I ever be able to move away from my little sister? It's definitely not going to be easy. Don't even get me started on leaving my parents, because all through college, I still teared up when I went back to school after a weekend at home. Yeah, it's a little pathetic, but I'll take that over wishing I was someone else's kid any day. Then there are my friends, and of course, Cameron. That will be awful.

At the same time, though, I have a sense of finally coming into my own. No more babysitting (unless I so choose), no more part time job, no more wishing I could just get a bite on my resume. No, now I will be a professional doing professional things, like buying office supplies and chatting with my coworkers about the latest episode of Dancing With The Stars (not that I watch it, but Yahoo! really doesn't let me avoid knowing who got kicked off and why).

So what will I be doing? I will be recruiting and coordinating volunteers for a non-profit. In all reality, it is the perfect job for me. There will be volunteers who work with kids (obviously something I love), some who provide meals for families/seniors in need (awesome), and oh so much more. Everything I've ever done is volunteer, really, so I'm feeling pretty confident that I can knock the proverbial socks off my boss when I start working for her.

I don't start there for a couple of weeks so that I have time to find a place to live (I need to get on that...) and get settled, but keep your fingers crossed and say a little prayer for me! Oh, and you can bet I'll write all about it after my first day!