The first day

Well, the first day at my new job is almost over! It has been a great day! Everyone has been very nice! From what I've seen so far, the project managers and project assistants communicate in a way that I'm used to and thrive in. Some would call it brash or sarcastic, but I find it to be very comfortable. I'm use to working with guys who fall into the if-they-don't-pick-0n-you-they-don't-like-you category, and I love that. These guys definitely live by the motto: work hard, play hard!

It's nice to be back in an atmosphere where "my guys" rely on me heavily and I feel pride in making their lives easier, or at least it will once I get up and running. And I'm realy enjoying the challenge of learning something new. Thankfully, coming from an architecture field I know a lot of the lingo and understand the basics of how a building gets built. But there is plenty of new stuff to learn.

I have an entire corner cubical to myself, and I'm already loving it! I had almost totally forgotten what it was like to have a quiet place to work. In fact I may have a hard time concentrating until I get used to it again. :-)

All in all, it was a great day! It's nice to not dread coming to work for the first time in a very long time. I'll keep you all updated, but right now, this looks like it was a great move! Yay!!

The Last 2 Weeks...

I'm just over half way through my 2 week notice. It's been interesting. Telling my bosses I was leaving was not fun at all. Pretending that I'm going to miss this place in order to not hurt the feelings of my co-workers has been a challenge. And then Friday I was called upon to perform one final miracle before I depart!

One of my bosses called me on Friday (my day off) around lunch asking me if I could come in for an hour or two to pull some stuff for a proposal that needed to be finished on Monday. Somehow I understood him to say that the firm we were partnering with was going to actually assemble the proposal and all I needed to do was get them some raw information.

Well, when I got into the office at 1:30pm I found out that that was not the case. We were putting together the proposal and the other firm was getting us information. Very soon I realized that they were asking me to do in a workday and a half what would normally take me three workdays worth of very focused time.

Long story... longer. ;-) I was at work until after 6pm on Friday, and here yesterday, Monday, until after 8pm. Oh well. I'm going out doing miracles and they are going out asking me to. I swear one of these day I'm going to get saint hood. I think you only have to do 3 miracles for that and I've done way more than three!

So... hopefully I won't be expected to be quite so magical at my new job. And I'm certainly looking forward to having a more even schedule! Like I told one of my bosses when we talked... "I didn't go to school to do this! I haven't dreamt of doing this all my life! Therefore, I'm not willing to sacrifice time with my husband, my family and friends, and myself to do it!"

Just three more days left!

I GOT THE JOB!!!!!

That's right, after 2 years at a job I disspise, more than a year and a half at 32 hours a week, more emotional breakdowns than I can count, numerous missed engagements with friends and family, countless hours of driving to hand deliver proposals out of town, never measuring up to unattainable standards of perfection, and a co-worker I'd like to shove off the balcony on a good day, I HAVE A NEW JOB!!!

I've been truthfully looking for a new one since about 3 months after I got this one in February of 2008. Unfortunately, about that time is when the economy pretty much went down the crapper, and as much as I hated it, I was thankful to have a job at all. I've had a couple of leads over the last two years, but nothing went very far.

To say the least... it's been a LONG two years! Over the past 2 years, I've tried to adjust to post-military life, struggled with moving back to a town that brought back few happy memories, tryed to connect to old friends in the area as well as make new ones, survived the death of my grandmother and the implosion of my extended family, navigated the house-buying process and attempted to be a good homeowner, all while dealing with a job that drains literally every ounce of my mental and emotional energy. And more importantly while trying to establish a solid foundation for the rest of Jay and my life together. Overwhelming... no. Exhausting... no. I truly cannot find a word to describe the last two years of my life.

But during this time, I've come to realize that sometimes getting out of bed every morning and putting one foot in front of the other all day long is something to celebrate! But I'm tired of simply surviving! I want to thrive! And hopefully, this new job will help me attain that goal!

Don't get me wrong... I know it's not going to be perfect. Nothing ever is. (Not even Studio 111, although all the non-perfect parts seem to have fallen out of my memory!) I know that this will be an adjustment, and there will always be at least one person who I don't click with as well as the others. I know I'll still get bored with the detail-orriented work sometimes, and no matter what job you have... you would always rather be at the beach. But I'm confident that it will be enormously better than what I have survived through the past 2 years.

Thanks everyone for all your crossed fingers and toes, your positive thoughts, and your prayers. If I can ask one more thing... please keep me in my thoughts over the next two weeks as I work out my notice. If I thought it was stressful around here now, it's only going to get worse. I'm keeping my eye on the goal though, and trying to keep in mind that nothing is worth my sanity. If I need to, I'll work a shorter notice.

Thanks again everyone! Here's to enjoying life!

Second interview...

That's right. I have a second interview tomorrow! My first interview went great! Not only does this sound like a way to get out of a job I hate, but it sounds like a place I will really enjoy working. The office manager was great! I felt like we really connected. The HVAC department director/project manager was awesome as well and hillarious. He laughed and joked with the office manager the whole time. They seem to have that great work hard, play hard mentality to the office which is the main thing I miss about working at Studio 111 in Cali. I've been looking for that for the past 3 years and have been unable to find. The offices I've worked in since have all been sort of... stuffy. I'm all for professional in front of clients and professional when it comes to getting the work done, but if I'm going to be at a place for 40 hours a week (more time than I spend awake at my house in a week), then I want it to be a fun, happy, playful environment. And this office seems to have just that!

Additionally, they seem to really respect their admins and lean of them greatly. I hate offices that have a "here type this letter, little girl" attitude towards their admin staff. My current boss once suggested that we list only the "professional" staff on the website, meaning architects and intern architects. What does that make the support staff... unprofessionals?!?!? The office manager and I both have 4 year degress and just because we arn't architects doesn't make us not professionals. Grrr. By contrast this company sees their project assistants and support staff as vital members of the construction team.

The commute would be about the same as I have right now, but I wouldn't have to deal with downtown parking (which will save me $50 a month right off the bat). I'll take a per hour pay cut, but since I'll be working 40 hours a week again, at the end of the month we will have the same amount of income or greater, so J and I are happy about that.

I really think this is going to be a good opportunity, and I'll continue to keep you all updated. If I am offered the position, I'll definitely need your positive thoughts as I inform my current office that I'm leaving. If I think my job is stressful now, it will only get worse as I work my two week notice. Not looking forward to that, but I know that over the long run, it will be well worth it!

Thanks everyone for your crossed fingers and positive thoughts over this period! Hopefully, I'm almost there!

Change is Good?

Obviously whoever said "Change is Good" didn't deal with anxiety issues.

I have a job which I have hated almost every day of the 2 years I've been here! It's stressful and exhausting, I'm over worked and under appreciated, I carry none of the authority but all the responsibility, and it brings me to tears on a very regular basis. And yet as I look at the prospect of a new and very real opportunity, I find myself... terrified!

To someone who deals with anxiety issues, the devil you know is absolutely better than the devil you don't know. What if this jobs turns out to be just as awful as the one I have now! What if the people there are just as difficult to work with as the ones here! Even though I hate my job with a passion, I'm comfortable with it. I know what to expect, even if that is crap-o-la in a can!

So what can I do? I can hope that I learned from this experience. Hopefully, I won't be so desperate that I overwhelm my instincts. Hopefully, I can go into the interview with the client (if I'm offered one) with all my senses active. Hopefully, I'll be able to ask the interviewer the questions I need to in order to determine if this is as much a good fit for me as I am for them. Hopefully, I can calmly trust my instincts to tell me if this is a good opportunity to not... although, almost anything would be better than what I've dealt with over the past 2 years.

Wish me luck and cross your fingers. I'll keep you all updated!

New Moon DVD Release Party

Two Saturdays ago I had the awesome opportunity to host a party to celebrate the release of the Twilight Saga: New Moon movie. It was so much fun to have so many women, of all ages and religious and political ideologies, come together and bond over something we all can agree on... that Bella should pick Jacob Black! Oh wait... we agreed that Twilight rocks! We were split about even on the whole Edward vs. Jacob and it was fun to debate the pros of each character.

I of course came as Alice... who else!




My awesome friend Darby came dressed as Esme and brought her sparkles! So we could all be sparkly vampires! Hehe!

I decided to base the party around the Italian city of Volterra were part of the movie takes place. I made brachette, cheese, olives, and crackers, and then lasagna for dinner.






The cool framed prints and drink labels are from the awesomest Hostess with the Mostess!







I featured Blood Orange Bellinis, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic.



I made personalized name tags/VIP passes/favors for all the girls. Unfortunately I didn't get any pics that night. I need to take a few of mine and I'll post them later.



For dessert I made Jacob Black-forest cupcakes. :-) They were good but it took more than one bottle of red food coloring to make the icing red. Stained my hands and everyone's tongues! Hehe!

Thanks to my husband's best friend, Dan, we had a very, very, very special guest!!



Yes, that's right! Edward Cullen himself (or his lifesized cardboard cutout) made an appearance. I think Dan just got it for me because he knows I'm a "team jacob". Now he's talking about taking it to the gun range for target practice.

But of course I had to make everyone take their picture with Edward before they left!








It was such a wonderful evening, full of camaraderie, support, laughter, and girl bonding! Oh and a few swoons when Jacob took his shirt off. So thankful to have so many wonderful women in my life! Just 3 more months till Eclipse comes out in theaters! Have to start working on the party for that one!

I hate politics!

Yes, that's right I said it... I HATE POLITICS!

The word "politics" has many meanings and nuances. I think everyone can agree that they hate "office" politics. Someone getting promoted because they have an "in" with the higher ups. People being treated differently because they have dirt on someone else.

But what I'm talking about is the real thing! The Democrat vs. Republican, Liberal vs. Conservative, Libertarian, Moderate, Tea Party, Coffee Party... Lemonaid Party crap!

I hate the way the party out of power nitpicks and finds fault with everything the party in power does, and then turns around and does the exact same things when they come into power.

I hate the way cries go out that the sky is falling and armagedon is coming whenever one side doesn't get its way. Amazingly the sky never seems to fall and armagedon never seems to come.

I hate the way compromise doesn't mean a give and take so that an agreement can be made that both sides can live with, but instead it means ending up with something that both sides can equally HATE.

I hate that unbiased whole-truth information seems to be so illusive! I hate having to fact check EVERYTHING because so much out there is only a half truth meant to lead the recipiant in one direction or the other.

I hate that it seems to be impossible for our leaders to sit down at a table, lay out the things that are most important to each of them, find the common ground and start working from there!

I hate the fact that if one does admit common ground with the other side, that they are barbequed by their own party!

I hate that friends seem to polarize into different camps and tend to assume that everyone thinks like they do.

I hate that in the world of "us" vs. "them", "they" do not deserve respect.

I hate that being rude and unkind is sometimes not seen as something to be punished but something to be praised as "standing up for what one believes in".

I hate that we can't just accept people for who they are and what they believe... that we must force them to agree with us or alienate them by disrespecting their right to have another opinion... if not outright shunning them all together.

I hate being thrown into catagories like "all you (liberals/conservatives/moderates/libertarians)" "your kind" and "you're all alike", when in fact no two of us think exactly alike or hold exactly the same beliefs.

I hate that too often it is impossible to (as my wise, wise friend says) agree to disagree AGREABLY! And then all go out for coffee!

I think many of the world's problems could begin to be worked out over small things that everyone could agree on, like... good strong coffee, a wonderful glass of red wine, and excelent cigars. :-)

From personal experience it's not fun being "one of them" when respect is optional. So... be kind to "them", for you never know who "they" are.