All in a lifetime's work.

Catch up.

imatravelin — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 13:41:00 GMT

Hi Everyone –

My apologies for not having written in quite some time. I think this is because while I have been busy with all sorts of activities, none of them feel very noteworthy and I would really feel bad for being responsible for being the one to make you fall asleep at your computer in the middle of the afternoon when you read this!

I have really just been going about my days as quietly and humbly as possible. Admittedly, this is sometimes difficult to do when working at a top 10 company, selling some of the latest, noisiest technology on the market. Looking back to where I last left off writing, Christmas was beautiful. I truly enjoyed being home and spending time with family. I was happy to be able to see as many people as I did! I wish I had been able to see more of my brothers but the weather decided otherwise for us. In fact, my flight back to Chicago got canceled and I ended up having to rent a car and drive through the night (and the storm!) so that I could make it to work on time the next day and still hold my job. That was another eventful adventure to add to the books.

Since then, in regards to work, I was notified of a change in policy affecting my particular position. When I started with the company, I was told my position would be permanent. Recently, however, my district manager communicated to me that the position I am currently in will expire 2 years after I stepped into it as the powers that be want to keep people motivated to move up into leadership. For me, this is November 1^st. I will still be guaranteed a position within the company, however, if by 11/1 I do not have another position, I will be placed “according to business needs” which means where ever there is an opening. I essentially take this to mean a demotion back to a sales rep. I applied to several positions without success but take that simply to mean that something better is around the corner. So, for now I will peacefully wait to see what the future holds.

I have been looking for more ways to become involved in the community and the only place it seems that is willing to work with my erratic schedule is church. (I think this is a beautiful blessing in disguise.) The new prior has started the Altar & Rosary Society, which is a group of women who pray the rosary together and are responsible for the care of all the altar linens. Other duties will eventually include organizing various celebrations and potlucks for the church. While there are many informalities about the Altar & Rosary Society, it is quite structured with a “board” of women, elected into the positions of president, vice president, secretary and treasurer. I was elected treasurer and am quite excited about it!

Father has recently asked me to take over teaching catechism class to a group of 10-12 year olds, as the former teacher moved out of state. This is a 50 minute class that meets every Sunday. I am excited to do it and it certainly keeps me on my toes with my catechism. While I have taught many kinds of lessons before, I never knew classroom teaching was so difficult on so many levels! It is a fun challenge for me.

I have also been asked to be part of a small group of women to help clean the priory, the house where the priests live. I think this is one of my favorite duties. It is so quiet and humbling, a perfect setting to remain recollected. We do all of the cleaning of the common areas in the large building once a month. I am beginning to understand the beauty of the words of a saint: “I found Heaven in my saucepans.” This month, there were 3 women my age, 3 retired women and the husband of one of the ladies – he is the maintenance organizer for the church. We got laughing so hard throughout the day that many times we were left speechless as we were crying. It was very enjoyable, to say the least.

The Bishop arrived in December to permanently live in Chicago. I cannot begin to describe how magnificent this is! To be able to attend daily mass and receive the sacraments from the bishop on a regular basis is such an incredible grace! Granted, he is obliged to travel to administer confirmation and such to other parishes but by enlarge he is in Chicago. The other day, I observed him and our Prior playing with the young kids after mass on a Pinewood Derby Race Track. The kids made racecars and painted them in the previous weeks and then were preparing for the big race. Simply watching their expressions and character as they played with the children melted my heart! I do not think I will ever forget the Bishop´s expression as he released a car down the track and then the children´s expression as they reacted to the Bishop´s expression and the excitement of a car whizzing down the track.

I recently found a delicious peasant bread recipe that you make and bake in a bowl. Wow! I never knew homemade bread could be so delicious with such little work (and without clunky machinery!). I also made a garlic dill butter schmear to go with the bread. For the 3 days straight that I ate that and nothing else, I was blissfully content. I will have to post pictures of that here soon.

I have decided to move to a suburb right next to Chicago. (In fact, if I walk a few blocks I will officially be in Chicago but will still be a short subway ride to downtown.) I will be moving into a studio so I have to purge a number of my belongings. I was nervous at first but now am excited and relieved to do it. There is so much beauty in the apartment I found as it is close enough to walk to church, grocery stores and is only 1.5 blocks from the subway to go downtown. I am excited to be able to get to daily mass without having to fight an hour of traffic! I will also be closer to some friends I have made recently. Yes, we will be within walking distance from each other! Also, the township I am moving to is a very active walking community with great Farmers Markets, museums and the like. I will be moving 3/27, just in time to be able to walk to Holy Week services! Deo gratias! I have already started packing. I figure the “slow and steady” approach will be the best. A few friends are helping me with a packing party in about a week to get the main push out of the way.

Stay in touch and let me know how you are doing. I would love to hear!

Until next time.

Unexpected guests and St. Nicholas cookies

imatravelin — Sun, 9 Dec 2012 12:25:00 GMT

This holiday season has been the most relaxed and enjoyable holiday season (and perhaps period of my life) since I have moved to Chicagoland. Yes, I am still faced with the usual quandries of retail and acclimating myself to a “new” home but I have been able to handle them better. I attribute this to several factors. 1 – I have removed a lot of toxic elements from my life recently, 2 – I am healthier than I have been in years, 3 – I have more work experience which allows me to better handle situations while establishing and maintaining boundaries and 4 – I am more firmly rooted in my faith. This year, my days and weeks have not smeared together into one big blur. I am performing better at work with less effort and find myself just having fun. Does this mean I am looking to be a life long retail employee? No, not quite, but I am nonetheless enjoying the task at hand until the next adventure comes along.

My cat has been a big source of comedic relief for me lately. 1 - I enjoy purchasing a bouquet of flowers every now and then to place on my long bookshelf. The flowers tend to end just above Freckles´ head if she is sitting on the bookshelf. Lately, I have found her sitting underneath the bouquet, just intently staring at the flowers. It is the oddest thing I think I have ever seen her do. 2 - I discovered that she has an impeccable squirrel call. One morning I thought she was choking behind my blinds so I quickly rushed over to help her only to find that she was calling all of the birds and squirrels! All of them were in the middle of tweets and cackles. Another morning, I heard Freckles calling the squirrels through the patio door in my living room. Turns out, she attracted FIVE squirrels! They were quite curious of her so I certainly got my ammusement in by watching the squirrels climb to the top of the screen and make their way upside down to tease Frecks. 3 – Lastly, Freckles snorts. Yes, snorts. She keeps doing it when I play with her at night and I laugh so hard I can barely breathe. This 10 year old feline is so entertaining!

Ok, enough chatter about my cat and work.

I attended the pilgrimage in Missouri at the beginning of November, like I had previously mentioned. There were over 1,000 people in attendance for the last day and came as far as Syracuse, NY! We walked a portion of the Lewis and Clark trail to the shrine of Our Lady of Sorrows where countless miracles have happened over the years. You can read more about the stories here. I ended up running into far more people I knew than I anticipated. Several of the ladies from my recent retreat were there, some folks who used to live in Chicagoland and others that I know from other various occasssions were in attendance. I discovered that pilgrimages are a beautiful little microcosm of life: you struggle through various tribilations on a long journey and finally you reach your beautiful destination to take a deep drink of refreshing consolation and enjoyment, similar to life´s journey and targeted destination of heaven. I went on this trip not knowing what to expect but was pleasantly surprised to have learned an overwhelming amount about myself which I think has supplemented my recent fortitude. I very much look forward to doing this again next year!

Life has had a fun way of showing ma again just how small this world is in the recent weeks. My social self noticed another new face at church, so of course, I could not resist introducing myself. Long story short, I discovered that this gentleman with whom I was speaking (he is my age) and I have mutual friends. I took note that all of them were people with whom I traveled to Spain. Turns out, T (the gentleman) and I lived in Spain at the same time, went to the same school and had the same classes together and did not even know it! Further, he went to Guatemala for a few months for a volunteer program and worked with another one of my friends, who also was in Spain with us. It was very enjoyable to chat with him.

Speaking of surprises, a few days ago I get a call from my father. I anticipated he was still in Australia visiting N for another few days so you can only imagine what kind of situations I thought my dad had to be in to call me from his cell phone in a foreign country! He was actually on his brief layover in Chicago before his last leg home. As we were chatting, he told me his flight got canceled. We ended up making plans to meet at his hotel for a small bite and to exchange stories. The timing could not have been better, either, because I had just ended my shift at work. It was great to be able to catch up with my dad twice in the span of a few weeks!

My last exciting story is that I helped make, bake, frost and pack too many cookies to count for the Feast of St. Nicholas. Tradition has it that little kids leave their shoes out at night and St. Nick fills them with various goodies. Every year, Mrs. B makes a small batch of cookies to help foster excitement amongst the members of her family. This year, however, Mrs. B decided to send these beautiful cookies for all of the boys, faculty and staff at the school that her eldest son attends. Of course, I excitedly accepted the invitation to assist! It was fun to spend the afternoon which faded into the evening with her family making dinner, doing homework and preparing the cookies. Sparing many details, Mrs. B left very large shoes in her kitchen on the eve of the feast of St. Nicholas as St. Nicholas blessed her with a beautiful new stove after hers baked the last batch 3 cookies short of our goal.

I will be home for several days for Christmas and look forward to seeing as many people as schedules allow. More details are in my email.

Until next time!

Baby bear´s porridge.

imatravelin — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 15:53:00 GMT

These last few weeks have been filled with baby bear’s porridge kind of busy – not too much, not too little but just right.

I am so taken back about this I have to tell you all about this first - I recently bought some clothes from a company called Florence Adams. They are a family company specializing in kitchen supplies and women’s apparel based out of Kansas so I ordered off of their website. Long story short, there was a mix up at the post office and I didn’t get my package until several weeks later. I didn’t think much of it because this kind of mix up always happens to me with my packages. Florence Adams’ customer service team was incredibly helpful in tracking my package for me. I got the clothes, loved them so much that I ordered a few other things. When I received that package, there was a hand written note and a BEAUTIFUL silk scarf inside (that I did not order) to thank me for my understanding with the previous package mix up. I was floored! I could not believe they took the time to do that for me. It was completely unnecessary and I am shocked. So, if you are looking for any kind of kitchen supplies or women’s clothing/accessories – check out www.florenceadams.com They are great!

A few weeks ago I noticed a few new faces at church so I introduced myself. Turns out, one of the new faces was a guy my age from Holland. He was wrapping up a 3 week treck across the US and Canada on his own. I decided to try to rally a few people for a fun dinner on his last night on this side of the Atlantic. Due to it being a Monday night, it ended up only being the two of us. After I –unintentionally- made him freeze outside for an hour (long story that clearly is the result of me not knowing downtown very well) because I could not find him, we ended up going out for an enjoyable Mexican dinner and a few drinks. Thankfully, his feet did not fall off from hypothermia. His English was impeccable and he is quite the jokester which made for an evening full of laughs. His passion for traveling reignited me so I may be jumping across the pond one of these days soon.. maybe :)

My dad came out to visit me a few weekends ago. I really enjoyed his visit. We got to spend lots of time together trying new restaurants as well as touring downtown Chicago and the big aquarium. It was interesting in the aquarium because we first toured all of the tropical fish from Asia, the Pacific, Africa and so on. Then we finished with the tour of the fish of the Great Lakes. It was odd to see fish that I grew up catching off of Grandma and Grandpa’s dock as a little child showcased in an aquarium as an exotic species. I also got to see a kind of fish that hate the sound of boat motors and will jump out of the water when the motor is running. I thought my dad was pulling my leg with another one of his grand fish stories but thankfully for his case, there was a video of them violently throwing themselves out of the water and even hitting people in the boats. They are so large that they knocked people down! My dad also got to meet a few of my friends while he was out here, which I especially enjoyed.

I can officially say that I am starting to make Chicago home because for the first time ever in almost 3 years, I ran into someone I know at the local store. I was so shocked! It was nice to see a friendly face. Mrs. B and her kids were fundraising for the school jog-a-thon and invited me to help them the following week. Of course I excitedly accepted the invitation and we followed that up with dinner and good conversation back at their house afterward. It felt like home and I really enjoyed it.

Being that we are in the heart of Fall, my friend MK and I got together to make candy apples and caramel apples. It was an experiment because we were making the coatings from scratch. She prefers organic foods so we strayed from the typical cane sugar and corn syrup to use coconut sugar and maple syrup. We couldn’t get the temperature hot enough so when we dipped the apples, all of the coatings ran off! In the end, they looked like the Charlie Brown Christmas Tree of candy apples but tasted amazing, nonetheless.

After much debate and reworking of logistics, I will be traveling to Missouri this Friday and Saturday for a 13 mile pilgrimage with folks from church from various parts of the Midwest. I am looking forward to this. For those that don’t know, this is a 3 day pilgrimage of 40+ miles total (1 day of 12 miles for those that can’t make the full 3 days). From my understanding, everyone will walk 12 miles together with priests available for confession and ending the journey with mass at the Our Lady of Sorrows chapel. I believe, in honor of All Souls Day, there will be a break to visit a cemetery to pray for the faithful departed. It should be a fun day with people of all ages.

When I get back, some friends and I plan on finally making a pumpkin pie from scratch! We are hoping to get to a pumpkin patch for the full experience as long as they are still open and it is not too cold out. I will have to post pictures from all of my adventures soon.

Until next time!

Spiritual Lollipops

imatravelin — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 21:07:00 GMT

Hi Everyone! Retreat was far better than anything I could have ever imagined. It was everything I needed and then much more. I am simply in awe at what a difference last week has made in my life.

So what is this retreat anyway? I suppose it would be best to start at the basics. It is a week of silent reflection on 4 primary themes: our final end (heaven), joyful mysteries, sorrowful mysteries and glorious mysteries of the rosary (aka, the life of Jesus and Mary). It is structured the way St. Ignatius of Loyola established it several centuries ago in Spain but shortened into 5 days from the original 30 days that is intended for priests. This structure consists of mass/prayer, conferences & meditations/contemplations, recreation time and of course meals. It requires complete silence on behalf of the retreatant with the exception of private meetings with the priest to discuss any questions or concerns one might have either from their life back home or from the retreat itself.

The location in California sits on about 25 acres across the mountain side and has private bungalows scattered along the lower part of the mountain for the retreatants to sleep in. It is absolutely gorgeous! I sat in a chair at one of the look out points and watched lizards do “push-ups” in the sun; a hedge hog (?) stick its head out of one hole, gaze around, duck down and repeat the same actions in holes all around me; two does and a buck chase each other around and come within 10 feet of me, moving their heads all around to get a better glimps of me and what I was doing, eagles cawing, wild turkeys strutting and so much more.

Outside of the 5 days of silence, this retreat was structured to be very social, which I enjoyed. (Many of the women stayed a day or two before/after to help accommodate travels.) I got to meet 20 other women from across the western portion of the US and hear about their challenges personally and even those that their communities face. It helped open my eyes to better understand the world around me. One of the women there was someone who was on retreat with me last year in CT. She turned out to be my “bungalow mate,” sleeping in the other half of the building. I made a number of friends in a very short period of time and may have mini trips planned in the near future to visit people across the Midwest.

At the start of the retreat, I was a bit nervous. I had several big questions I was hoping to find answers to during the week. I was quite beside myself when not even half way through the first conference God´s grace smacked me right across the head and I found my answers! I almost began laughing in disbelief. I tentatively dismissed them until later on in the retreat when we were focusing on decisions and resolutions. I even mentioned the situation to one of the priests and after a bit of discussion, I realized that they were really the answers I was looking for. It was incredible. The priest told me that once a person understands the psychology of the soul (aka, hierarchy of the higher/lower faculties: will, intellect, memory, emotions, passions) that the light bulb instantly goes off and one realizes the answers were really in plain sight. It is no wonder why I found many of my answers during this conference.

This year it struck me just how beautiful retreats really are. The women in attendance ranged from 20-80 years old and brought with them all of the questions and dilemmas that one would face at those individual stages of life with the single common thread of all desiring to know and do God´s will. After the retreat, we all found the answers to our individual and highly distinct situations. I heard everyone say “it was just what I needed to hear and experience for me at this stage of my life”. We all heard the exact same set of lectures with the exact same readings and meditations yet all left with different answers, the answers we were individually seeking. It really took me back.

I found that the priests at this location were particularly interesting. Two were French and one was American. One of them was born in Madagascar to a French diplomat and had all sorts of stories of growing up in the safari and then being assigned to almost every continent since his ordination into the priesthood at one point or another. The other French priest spoke of beautiful stories of his family growing up. The American priest was quite reserved about his personal life but I think that is because he is a nervous public speaker. One of the French priests was particularly concerned about his English and said the most hysterical things like “you ought to flush!” when he meant “blush” and everytime he said “apostles” it sounded like “applesauce”. You can only IMAGINE the sentences I thought he was saying: “when Jesus was washing the feet of the applesauce...”. They used great imagery (perhaps too good because we all broke out into laughter many times) with things like “spiritual lollipops” in reference to God´s consolations of joy or donkies and jockies when discussing the higher/lower faculties. If you are anything like I was, I bet you immediately see a big race track full of racing donkies with jockies furiously bouncing up and down. Funny moments aside, these priests did a phenomenal job at taking the theoretical concepts/applications and bringing them into the sphere of practical application.

If all of that was not enough to make it a great retreat, the cherry on top was the amazing cook! She made all sorts of delicious meals – Spanish, Korean, American, Italian.. oooh, my mouth is watering!

After the retreat, I raided the bookstore. They had so many books I had been looking for for a long time. My entire backpack was filled with books plus two extra bags I carried on the plane with me. (It´s ok to be indulgent on these kinds of things, right?) Once I was done frolicking there, a family at the parish contacted me, saying that one of the women I know in Chicago gave them a heads up I was on retreat. Long story short, they took me and some other retreatants out for a quick sight seeing tour in Santa Cruz. We walked along the boardwalk and had clam chowder on the pier followed by a quick icecream on the way back to the San Jose airport.

On my redeye flight back to Chicago, I had plenty of time to reflect on the last few years of my life. I was able to see God´s hand in everything. Moreover, I saw just how much I was resisting the trials He has been sending my way when in reality I just needed to cooperate with His grace and that the times when I was cooperating, I was the happiest. I have arrived in Chicago with resolutions firmly in hand and my trust firmly in God´s hands. I am entering back into the chaotic life that is retail sales at my company and feel an incredible sense of peace and ease about me. I found myself describing it to a friend as feeling an entire choir of angles behind me, fortifying me with all the strength I need.

The day just prior to leaving for retreat I had an interview for a position with my company back in Syracuse. I did so well that when I got back from retreat I found that I had a second round interview. I need to tell you all that I have decided (while the end results are noble – aka, being closer to family) the decision was not based on good intentions/grounds initially and therefore I have decided to stay in Chicago for the time being and withdrew my application.

I don’t think I have ever felt so much joy, happiness and stability in my life as I have since the retreat. It piques my curiosity that as I am interacting with others now that I have returned to Chicago life, others are able to see the joy, happiness and stability in me, without me speaking a word. I feel incredible!

I have countless more stories from retreat that I would love to share so feel free to reach out sometime because I know I need to catch up with others, too.

Until next time!

Ch - ch - changes

imatravelin — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 19:38:00 GMT

My uncharacteristically busy week came to an end with a very enjoyable trip to NY. I was so happy to see as many people as I did and am thankful for everyone being so willing to work with my schedule and travel needs.

In the weeks since my trip to NY, the biggest news in my life surrounds work. There have been many conversations going back and forth regarding the possibility of a permanent position for me in the Finance department with my ADs. The final ruling is that I need my MBA 100% complete, no questions about it, before I can consider joining the department full time. Initially, it was heart breaking news for me to hear, especially after having all but a written agreement surrounding the fact that I would be able to be hired in January at the start of my MBA. However, after some time to mull over the decision, I realized that it was my ticket to freedom. I now have the freedom to pick up and relocate anywhere I want, whenever I want and not have to wait on anyone else (well, within reason).

Since then, I have found two positions within the company that pique my interest. The first being a Network Analyst, consisting of virtually identical work as in the Finance department in Chicagoland with the main exception being that I already fulfill their requirements with undergrad degree. The second position is a retail supervisor position back in Syracuse. I applied for both positions knowing that it is a far shot for either with the amount of anticipated applicants for each open position. So far I have heard that one of the hiring managers is interested in me and contacting my boss for feedback on my skills. I understand the ramifications of taking either position (if it is even offered to me) and am at peace with it. I am willing to get into more specifics via phone if someone wants to know more. The hiring process is either lightening fast or impossibly slow with my company so I will know sooner or later. A good lesson in patience for me!

I am at the position in life where I am trying so very hard to discern where I am supposed to be going and what I am supposed to be doing. I have set myself up with several different options so now I have to let everything unfold. I am very thankful that this coming week I will be going on retreat. I cannot wait to clear my head and get a good sense of direction about me. Please keep me in your prayers this coming week (Oct 1-6) for a successful retreat.

On a different note, J, from Korea, came to visit me for the weekend and - while exhausting - we had a blast making all sorts of goodies. We made pork dumplings, spicy tofu soup, kimbap (similar to sushi, without fish), bulgolgi, and other yummy delights. My apartment now smells like Korea if anyone is interested in know what that smells like, please feel free to stop by!

This past weekend was enjoyable because one of my friends who is a big foodie invited me downtown for a fun evening out. It was relaxing being able to speak to someone so down to earth and in a similar pivotal life change akin to myself. We´ve crossed paths several times since I´ve lived in the area but I never knew how similar our life stories were until our dinner conversation. Oh yes, and the food was incredible, too! I got to try Pork Belly for the first time. It is surprisingly delicious. At dinner, we decided that we both needed to get out again, so to celebrate what is potentially my last corporate weekend off, we are going pumpkin hunting to make pumpkin pie from scratch AND while it is cooking up, we are going to try our hands at making 100% homemade Rick Bayless style gourmet tacos (even the tortillas will be from scratch!). It should be an eventful Saturday!

Oh! I almost forgot -- I went to see the homeopath about my asthma symptoms and chronic fatigue. It was simply incredible! At the end of the two hour consultation, she got up, went to her remedy supply, gave me a tiny remedy without hardly looking up from her supplies and within 2 minutes I began to feel the effects. My lungs were open, I was alert and for the first time in years I was awake and ready to start my day (the next morning) before my alarm even went off! Needless to say, this is a complete game changer. I have been doing things I have not done in ages because I never had the energy. She made a complete believer out of me. Oh, and one of the many best parts is that I can now climb flights of stairs at a time without even being winded. I never thought I´d see that day but now it´s everyday!

Until next time!

Grocercise & BaBaReba

imatravelin — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 12:18:00 GMT

This week has been absolutely jam packed with activities. I cannot remember being this busy since college. It feels great. I will not burden you with moment by moment accounts of my activities but keep reading to see some of the highlights.

I went to the Cubs v. Rockies game on Saturday. It was beautiful! All of my friends were busy so I gave my extra ticket to my coworker as he was already planning on going. It was nice to kick back and relax on a Saturday afternoon. I managed to end the day with no sunburns, except on my scalp where my part was. I was so close to escaping sunburns all together, too!

On Sunday, I spent some time after mass with friends having a delicious brunch and followed it up by going over to a friend´s house. She is studying to become a homeopath and offered me a remedy for my sunburned scalp. (For those of you that don´t know, homeopathy has been around longer than the AMA, was initially used by English royalty for their ailments and is an all-natural non-medicinal option that uses plants, minerals, etc in a dilluted form to give your body the kick it needs to start/continue working properly. There are zero side effects as it uses what is naturally made to assist our bodies.) I was slightly reluctant to use the remedy as my burn did not hurt but she insisted, stating that it would nonetheless heal the redness and burning within 24hrs. The remedy is about the size of a small BB Gun Pellet and is preserved in sweetened milk. You simply pop it under your tongue and within 10 mins it dissolves. While I was quite skeptical, curiosity got the best of me and I took the remedy. Within an hour, the intense burning sensation on the back of my head (completely unrelated to my sunburn) that I had been experiencing intermittently for several years but no doctor believed, was gone! I was shocked because no medicine has been able to do that for me. I was so excited, I called my friend and asked what kind of burning this remedy is supposed to relieve. She stated that any burning sensation internal or external will be relieved. I told her my story and she was elated to hear the news, especially since I had no disclosed that additional ailment to her previously.

Long story short, she is taking classes from the best homeopath in the nation who will be visiting Chicagoland in the next few weeks. As this has more than caught my attention, I will be attending two of her mini-lectures and even signed up for a consultation with her. I have been going to a number of doctors recently for some health concerns that no one seems to be able to pin down the root issue so I am placing my bet on this lady to be able to help me. The best part is, is that since the remedies are all natural, no patents can be placed on them. Aka, you pay pennies for a single "pellet" of a remedy. It is mind blowing!

Apart from that excitement, I "developed" a new exercise I like to call "grocercise". It is exercise for groceries. Monday, I decided to be ambitious and ride my bike 3 miles to the grocery store, shop for my weekly food, and then bike back with my purchases in my bike baskets. Riding to the store was the most challenging portion of the entire trip. I thought it would take me significantly longer but the whole journey (including shopping) only took me 1 hour, which is about the same amount of time it takes if I drive. It was great! Admittedly, I got a few tree branches in the face, encountered more hills and stairs and even 3in wide gravel cliffed footpaths than the scouting car ride lead me to believe there was. All in all, I loved the experience and plan to do that weekly! I even bought lights and reflectors for myself and my bike so I can ride safely as it starts to get dark out.

Tuesday, the newly engaged Miss K.S. drove through Chicagoland on her month long cross-country adventure. I met her and her cousin downtown for a delicious dinner at Joe´s Seafood, Prime Steak and Stone Crab restaurant. We went out for a few drinks afterward (just soda for me, the driver!) and as we got talking to others around us, we discovered that the folks we were speaking with were from NYC and one even lived in the same building as KS. Small world! I very much enjoyed her visit.

Tonight, work had an outing planned for the finance department. The first portion of the day, we had a town hall meeting on Shareholder Value. It was quite interesting and made me excited to start my finance classes in January. We then boarded a bus to go downtown to watch the play Million Dollar Quartette. It was an enjoyable show and absolutely adorable to see all of the folks who grew up in the era with Elvis, Johnny Cash, and others get right into the music, bopping around. We then went to a fantastic Tapas Bar for dinner with more food than anyone could dream of eating. It brought me back to my days in Spain.

Tomorrow I have a shopping trip planned with my friend, MK, the one who is studying to become a homeopath. Then it is packing and off to NY for the long weekend. I am very much looking forward to visiting with everyone!

Until next time!

NY Bound

imatravelin — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 10:23:00 GMT

Happy Friday!

Lots on the calendar this past week and in the upcoming weeks! As you all know, I will be visiting home over Labor Day weekend. I was able to find a dirt cheap ticket so I took advantage of it. I will be helping my mother with various things for the majority of the time I am home but I will be free Sunday to visit with everyone else. I believe lunch of some sort is in order after mass with my mom´s side of the family and then I´ll be going up to the cottages to visit with my dad and that side of the family if folks are still around. I am looking forward to visiting with everyone!!

I recently cut my hair. Not to worry, it´s not an accidental diagonal mohawk! It is just past my chin. I really enjoy it because my headaches have stopped since my hair does not weigh so much anymore.

After a conversation with one of the Finance ADs this week, I think I may have secured a permanent position within the department! I say "think" because it will be interim until January and then she will officially offer me a full time position once I am offically enrolled in classes for my MBA. She even gave me a pair of Cubs tickets for this weekend. This has given me the green light to start seeking out other opportunities to commit myself to on a regular basis to get to know more people. I am in the process of applying as a swim instructor at a local swim school. It will only be a night or two a week but it will get me out and interacting with people more. I have an interview this week for it. I am looking forward to it. The only potential reason why I might not get it is because of my occasional vacation, like the one I already have planned in October. They seem pretty flexible with me as they are already offering me an adjusted schedule due to my full time job.

I have my bike at my place now. I love it because I have been going for bike rides every night it is not too hot out. I am even tempted to ride it to the grocery store. I mapped it out and the grocery store is about 3 miles away so it will be a good work out! I am thinking that next year I will invest in a bike rack for my car so that I can more easily take my bike to forrest preserves and the like.

More adventures to come! Until next time!

Whistle while you work.

imatravelin — Sun, 12 Aug 2012 16:13:00 GMT

Hi, All – These last few weeks have been packed with intensity.

There has been a lot of back-and-forth at work with new policy changes about me being able to get a permanent position within the Finance Department before I have a 100% completed finance degree and even my CPA. To have all of those under my belt, it would be at least 5 years. I am having a hard time understanding my boss because she was very blunt with me during my mid-year review that there is no way I can be part of the team before I have obtained all of those degrees/certifications but I should look into other corporate avenues within the company and eventually make my way to Finance. She then turned around and said that they are considering extending my temporary assignment another month and also making my position a permanent one but I would have to apply and might even get it before I have all of my degrees/certifications. I am growing tired of trying to read between the lines she is writing so I will just keep working hard and see what comes my way in the next few months.

All of that being said, I decided to get my MBA. I applied for January enrollment in a dual concentration of International Business and Finance. As I promised myself I would stay within the company´s tuition assistance funding amount, I will be taking one course at a time. This would put me at about a 4 year mark for completion. Wish me luck!

In all of the commotion of my previous entries, I completely forgot to write about all of the fun visitors I have had recently! L was back for about a month between her jobs in Mexico. We got to visit each other for one night. I was, admittedly, a bit of a grumpy pants the day she came to visit so she more than fulfilled her Friend Duty by taking me out for some Mexican comfort food, a beer and a personal pint of icecream – none of which I had more than a few bites/drinks of but nonetheless appreciated her generosity and patience! Not long after that, P and her boyfriend C were back visiting from Europe for about a month. I was in much better spirits for their visit. We enjoyed a delicious American meal and lots of catching up as it had been two years (since college graduation) since we saw each other last! I know what it is like to be visiting a place you have not been in a while and how you tend to get pulled in many directions. I was thrilled they all were able to make time for a nice visit with me.

Every now and again I am reminded of just how small of a world it is in which we live. There have been some new faces at church lately as people are moving to the area for the new round of college enrollment and other various life changes. After a few weeks of speaking with one of the gentlemen in particular (I say gentleman, he´s about my age), a light bulb apparently went off in his mind and he got really excited saying “I know! You´re related to the L.P. family in Florida, aren´t you?!” I just about fell out of my chair because 1 – people always make those connections to the other side of my family due to last names and general appearances 2 – this sort of “I-know-your-family-but-you-don´t-know-I-know” only happens to me when I am around my hometown and never in Chicago (for obvious reasons) and 3 – because after all of that, even if someone does draw the connection of my relation to the L.P.’s, it´s always the family in NY, never FL! Apparently, he knows my aunt and uncle pretty well. They even recommended he get in touch with me once he moved to the area but in all of the commotion of moving, he forgot to get my contact information. It was a fun, unexpected little happenstance today.

Yesterday, a large group of us met at the new priory to clean it from top to bottom. We were cleaning from 9am until 6pm mass. We cleaned a solid 20+ bedrooms, 2 community sized bathrooms, a massive library and a double kitchen. I even found myself scrubbing walls and ceiling fans. We accomplished a lot, even much more manual construction, repairs and landscaping, in one day. I have to be honest, I don´t think I ever cleaned so much or so thoroughly before in my life. (Sorry, Mom :0) ) I woke up the next morning more sore than I am if I did an intensive workout. Yikes. In all seriousness, it was very gratifying to be able to work next to so many passionate and talented people for a great cause. I learned a lot about cleaning tips and tricks that will help me when I decide to clean my apartment that intensively. There is still a lot of work to be done but the main rooms, and then some, are move-in ready for the first priest to arrive on Wednesday. I imagine we will have a few more intensive cleaning days to finish the rest of the building.

Until next time!

July hodge podge.

imatravelin — Sun, 5 Aug 2012 11:29:00 GMT

Hello, again! I am excited to write another update for you all as I have been so terrible at keeping in touch lately but I am nonetheless a bit perplexed as to where to begin.

This last month or so has gone by more quickly than I realized. Work is going really well. I am truly finding my niche within the company. There has been a lot of shifting around and policy changes in the department/company recently so I am not sure what that will bring for me at the end of my interim rotation in September. Nonetheless, I plan on continuing to work hard, prove myself to the best of my abilities and see where that brings me.

I booked another retreat for the first week of October. With my recent life changes I feel as though I need more direction and grounding so that I can move forward on the correct path. I know it may sound odd to most people but I am thoroughly excited for a solid week of absolute silence (with the exception of the priests´ lessons, mass and confession). This year I booked my retreat out in California at a location just outside San Jose, as it best fit my schedule. I won´t have time for additional sight seeing as I only have enough vacation time left for the retreat itself. I am OK with it as the retreat is the most important part.

The priory (house for priests) at church is going to open up in less than 2 weeks! We are getting three resident priests plus the bishop! It is quite an honor to have a bishop stationed right in your own parish. That being said, there is a lot of extra work that needs to be done. Next Saturday I am going to help with the finishing touches in regards to cleaning, laundry, etc, of which I am told there is plenty. It will be a nice way for me to get to know more people in the area. Today, I helped out with preparing the meal for our current priest´s going away party. Not everyone could stay but there were plenty of people to fill up the reception hall in the basement of the church. I thoroughly enjoyed working with the others in preparing the meal. Then I came home and took a nap because I was exhausted!

While I am on this topic, I want to take a moment to discuss my previous comment about the potential of a religious vocation as I have had some questions about that. I wrote to several Mother Houses (convents, specifically where one goes if she is thinking about joining the convent) in the US and France. At this point in time, I need to really take a step back and pray about what God wants for me. They invited me to stay with them for up to a few weeks at some point in the future to help me gain a better understanding of the kind of life they lead. Moreover, the general consensus is that one needs to be 100% debt free in order to join, which I am not due to my modest mortgage worth of student loans. At this stage, I have determined soley based on that fact alone that unless God sends me a great blessing of someone helping me repay my loans quickly then the religious life is not for me.. at least for the next 17.8 years if I still find myself unwed and inclined to join.

On an entirely different note, I have lost 10lbs so far! I am feeling more comfortable already and only 25lbs more to go to my goal weight. This last week or so has remained even at best as I have stayed inside due to the heat and have not been taking too much care in what I eat. I am getting back on track, though.

I wish I could go back to NY this summer as I am missing family reunions on both sides of the family this year. Hopefully next year I will be more settled in my job so that I can plan that better. In anycase, I am glad that everyone had/will have a great time together! I´d love to see pictures and hear stories so pass them my way when you get a chance.

I had two fun projects this week - the first was organizing my scarves. If you know me, you know I have more scarves than I really should for my own good. Hence, they were taking over my bedroom and needed to be wrangled. I ended up taking the circular shower curtain hooks and clipping them to a hanger, then pulling the scarf through the loop. Voila! Organized and handy. Second - I needed (well.. wanted is more like it) an extra dry erase board for all of my household action items (eek.. corporate jargon is creeping in!) and didn´t want to pay 10-15$ for an plain old white board. So, I hunted down a pretty gold frame at the thrift store for about 1$, spray painted the back piece of paper to match the blue in my living room and there I go! I have an inexpensive, aesthetically pleasing dry erase board.

Time to get ready for work tomorrow. Until next time!

July life.

imatravelin — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 11:02:00 GMT

I am going to postpone my next round of "lifestyle changes" to write about recent happenings.

The camping trip over July 4th was a lot of fun. We did all sorts of activities from a lazy-river-esque trip down the Jump River (expecting to take about 30 mins but actually taking 5 HOURS! because the river was so lazy) to eating ice cream in an old fashioned icecream bar in the back of a hardware store to holding on to the camper for dear life as tornado strength winds whipped across the property. It was raining so hard I could hardly hear anything and I thought the wind was going to turn the pop-up camper into an expensive tumble weed. Thankfully, we were just fine in the morning. The town of Jump River, WI held its annual July 4th parade, lawn mower races and tractor pull. I am a big softie for small town festivities! Most of our nights were cut short due to extreme heat and being covered in mosquitos but we found relief the last night as a cold front came through so we set off some of our own fireworks.

I started my classes when I returned from my trip and am loving them. I have taken my first exams and am looking to keep a 4.0 the whole way through. Work has been pushing me to strongly consider an MBA, even a dual concentration MBA. I am interested in doing it to secure my position within a non-retail department of the company but can start it no earlier than January 2013 as I want to stay within the limits of my company´s tuition assistance program. The more I think about it, the more I realize a dual concentration MBA might be best for me so that I will have more options in my career down the road.

As I am spending more time in the Finance department, I am realizing just how great of a fit this line of work for me is. I do not know if I am a "true accountant" but I do know that I really enjoy reporting and analysis, which is the kind of job I currently hold. I am moving so quickly through the projects I am given that they are having a difficult time keeping my Action Items list full. My boss had me training in various Modeling Techniques with one of the senior analysts for a day and I will begin working on it solo this coming week. I am very appreciative that they are allowing me to spread my wings. I also very much enjoy that I am not micro-managed. I am given a project and then given space to run with it. The people in my department are also great. They are all incredibly intelligent people (ahh, true nerds!) but also have good social skills which make them fun to work with. In addition to that, several of them have gone through relocation with the company, some multiple times, and they know what it is like to live in a new area within the pressures of our company, knowing few people outside of work. That being said, a lot of them are being incredibly generous to me and offering to show me around and introduce me to others. I could really get used to these people.

I have not yet given my 100% official green light to the company yet, but they are nonetheless working on me to be the first on the list to relocate to northern NJ area. Perhaps it is one of those things that I just need to agree to and then cross the bridge when it comes. In anycase, I told them that if I were offered for a position that I would be hard pressed to turn it down. I am interested in how this will unfold.

Given the recent change in my personal life, I am taking this time to get myself on a solid schedule, read voraciously, meet new people and really get a better understanding of what God wants me to do with my life. With that, I am looking into various options for a religious vocation. I do not know if it something that will start a new chapter in my life but at the very least, I owe it to myself and to God to seriously contemplate it as I have not yet done so. Please keep me in your prayers that I may have a clear understanding of my calling and a full desire to attain it.

Until next time!

Workouts and Spas.

imatravelin — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 15:33:00 GMT

As I mentioned in my previous posting, I have been making some lifestyle changes lately. I am looking to better manage my finances, simplify my life and in general, be healthy. This has come about due to a series of unrelated incidents that got the wheels turning and my thoughts/motivation to where they are today.

One of the first changes I am making is to get back into shape. I have always had a positive self-image of my body, which is why I think I have gained the freshman 15 several times over and have been just fine with it. (Admittedly, I also placed other priorities above working out in recent years.) My motivation for this has been a slow culmination of experiences: my body not moving the way I remember, a little more of me in the way when I put my shoes on, a few too many “bad angle” pictures to be a coincidence and finally a major campaign at work to “start slow but start” exercising.

I made my decision to get in shape just as my gym membership that I never used was expiring. I didn’t want to renew it because it is costly, difficult to get there with my work schedule and the staff is too intense/overbearing for my liking. I have a bike and even two legs for walking but no inclination to do those on a daily basis after dusk/dark by myself. (Since I have been living by myself, I have become a big wimp when it comes to strolling about by myself at night.) I was back to square one with a plan. I used my good friend, Google, to help me find workouts online for beginners but they all were so technical and unappealing. Low and behold, I was mingling around the store down the road and I stumble upon various workout DVDs on sale for 5$/each. I figured that 5$ was an investment I would be willing to risk on potentially bad workouts. I snatched up 3 of them – Cardio Party, Pilates & Yoga.

They could not have been a better match for me if I tried! They fit in my schedule, I can go at my own pace and I can even increase the intensity easily as I grow into them. My biggest problem now is keeping from collapsing as the kitties weave themselves around me, tickling me with their tails and whiskers during my workout. I am also using an app on my phone as a food journal / workout tracker. It took me a little while to understand portion sizes and the amount of calories in all kinds of food but I have adjusted and am pacing to lose about 2lbs/week, even though my goal is a slow and steady 1lb/week.

After my workouts, I get to relax at Spa My Bathroom. I know it doesn’t sound appealing, but I discovered a number of awesome homemade recipes for face wash, face scrub, body scrub, etc. The best part is, all of the ingredients are already in my kitchen and a jar o’scrub that normally retails 50$-100$, costs me only a fraction of that. I don’t think I will ever buy face wash or body wash again. My skin has never been cleaner, looked clearer nor felt softer. Score one for the home team!

Until next time!

Recent weeks & July 4th festivities

imatravelin — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 13:24:00 GMT

Hello hello, again.

The last few weeks have been really exciting for me for a plethora of reasons. They all have to do with lifestyle changes I am making from finding my niche in my career to going back to school to getting back in shape. I will write about this over several entries to keep it from being too lengthy.

I finished off what I hope is my last few weeks in retail for the rest of my life. I have been shadowing someone in the Finance department for about 2 weeks now and absolutely love the work that I am doing! I NEVER thought that I would say that about Finance as long as I lived but, I pushed my personal limits and discovered a new interest that I think I could make into a career.

For the new job, I am learning to write SQL. SQL is a special computer code that retrieves any amount of data that a company has stored on its massive servers. It is surprisingly pulling on my language heartstrings because I am finding I get excited when I have to start writing my own SQL queries and I am making all sorts of comparisons between SQL/Languages as I am learning it. My AD even remarked at how surprised she is that I am picking it up so quickly with no formal experience/teaching.

July 1 I will be starting 2, 8 week courses for leadership management and finance. One is through Notre Dame and the other, Villanova. I just received my books in the mail and I am really excited to begin formal learning again. In addition to that, I have been doing a large amount of informal learning on my own. Over the last few months I have bought numerous books/audio books/audio conferences and am tearing through them faster than I have ever read before in my life. This “new found” hobby has come about slowly over the last year or so. It started when I read a book about the effects of TV on kids last fall. As I was reading it, I made many comparisons to the effects I saw it had on me. I slowly found myself turning my TV on less and less, until I outright canceled my cable subscription because I had not turned my TV on for 3 months. I then found myself getting ansty, bored and somewhat lonely at home.. until I rediscovered to magic of a great book! I have not been able to put them down since. I have been reading all sorts of history books and auto/biographies. My favorite story to recount is about WW1 and how Rasputin died. Ask me sometime, it’s an unbelievable story!

Don’t get me wrong, I am not against watching TV, I simply found that it was a time drain for me and I wasted SO SO SO much time doing nothing productive. Now, I am using the money I am saving on my TV bill to buy books and help pay off my student loans more quickly. While I might be somewhat lacking in my pop-culture knowledge, I am gaining far more knowledge in other areas and am perfectly content with that balance.

On another note, P, several of his colleagues, their families and myself will be going up to northern WI to go camping for about week over July 4^th. I am excited and cannot wait to go! We will be on private property with a river running through the back end on half open/half forested land and the nearest town 45 minutes away. Believe it or not, there is ZERO cell coverage up there! It will be a nice escape from work for everyone. We are planning on grilling out, tubing, kayaking, touring a cheese factory, visiting Lake Superior and a myriad of other WI/outdoor adventures! P and I are leaving first thing Saturday morning while everyone else is starting the drive immediately after work on Friday.

Until next time!

Whirlwind of change.

imatravelin — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 12:15:00 GMT

Hello hello, again! As promised, I am back again far before the 3 month mark. I am writing with exciting news in hand as the efforts of the last several weeks have finally culminated today.

Prior to having finished my marketing positioin, I had an Associate Director of Finance approach me, inquiring if I wanted to do a special assignment with her. Within a week after the end of my marketing position, I had another Associate Director of Finance approach me, asking me to join her team, as well. The first time I divulged having two offers to one of the ADs was a rather awkward moment because I had assumed they both knew of each other´s plans as they worked closely together when in fact, neither knew of ther other´s offer. It ended up working out for the best because they collaborated and offered me a dual position: for the first half of my interim position I will be working on specialized Business channel offers and the last 1.5 months I will be working with the other AD on a special reporting assignment focusing on the region I currently work in.

With this position, I will be a Midwest Area employee with a massive amount of exposure to all kinds of career-advancing big wigs. One of the ADs mentioned to me today that she discussed me in the MWA´s Finance AD Staff Meeting and other ADs were asking if I could fill in on their team when they needed me. To me, she jokingly made mention that they might be able to make a permanent position for me out of rotational assignments if I can perform well enough. Hey, at this point, I will take WHATEVER they want to offer me to help me gain more expereince and to stay out of retail. In all seriousness, I would prefer a permanent position and they made mention that “the company always finds room for those they want” but in the meantime, I am ready, willing and able to be flexible to get myself to the next landing zone.

I am expected to work 40-45hrs/week, free weeknds, paid holidays and minimal travel. I am slated to transition within the next two weeks if all goes as planned. They asked if I would be willing to relocate to NY/NJ area within the next year as that is where the company HQ is located. I told them that I am open to the idea, for obvious reasons, but cannot commit to it at this point in time. I will need to see what the future brings. In return, I will begin a specialized degree program in finance to help myself gain a formal background in the field, paid for by the company.

Speaking of classes, I am going to start a Master Certificate of Executive Leadership through Notre Dame and also a Certificate in Finance through Villanova July 1st. The Master Certificate is a 3 course program surrounding leadership skills, etc. The Finance certificate is a 1 course program to dive into the essentials needed for an understanding in Finance. All of the classes are 8 weeks long with the only deadline for work being the last day. AKA, super flexible online classes. I am looking forward to the education.

I am highly appreciative of my current boss. He has bent over backwards to help me secure these positions at HQ. My coming and going has thrown all sorts of wrenches into his management staffing needs. He is committed to seeing his staff succeed and does absolutely anything within his power to see that come to fruition. When I called him today with news that I accepted the offer, he replied with the following “Congrats, (last name). In my entire career I have never known anyone to receive so many offers. Keep up the hard work and don´t come back.” It was his endearing way of stating he was proud of me and wants to see me succeed so I will not need to ever come back to retail. I would like to see that, too.

Until next time!

Hello & goodbye, past 3 months.

imatravelin — Sat, 26 May 2012 16:38:00 GMT

It´s been a few months, hu? Life seems to have gotten away from me these last few months. Life has been good and full of all sorts of activities. Let me see what I can recount for you.

My interim position in the Marketing Department was full of learning lessons. Sometimes I felt that it was more learning than I anticipated. It allowed me to gain a deeper understanding of culture/flow of the company for which I work. I built and deepened many relationships from the retail to regional HQ, area HQ and even up to the company HQ. I have been able to diversify my portfolio of experiences within my company and feel I am a better worker because of it. I am not sure if I am called to strike up a career in marketing, however.

Above all other reasons, this 3 month experience was a success because I was able to determine that I am excited most and perform the best when I am able to create and then analyze. Most would think that I could do this in marketing. While that is true, it is highly subjective. I am coming to the conclusion that I will most enjoy a career in finance. I get to create reports, analyze the data and make appropriate recommendations for the direction of business. The reports are objective – numbers are black and white, right or wrong – and I will be able to easily self-analyze and guide myself without being so reliant on others for assistance. That is appealing to me. I have been in touch with the Finance Associate Director so hopefully another opportunity will come my way.

Near the beginning of my interim assignment, I decided to go out for lunch by myself as my colleagues were all busy. I debated on where to go but settled on a yummy Thai house across town. I laughed to myself on the drive there as I thought it would be funny to run into P coincidentally, as it was a restaurant he introduced me to. I dismissed it quickly as the amount of variables that would have to align to make that situation possible were vast. I arrive and as I am seated, I spot some of P´s coworkers and then P! After recounting my thoughts on the drive there, no one could believe that it actually happened. They invited me to sit with them so I enjoyed lunch with good company after all!

My trip home over Easter was enjoyable. I was able to catch up with many people, even friends from high school. It was then that I learned that pineapple stops heartburn. Imagine that! Papaya works, too. Also, if you eat whole papaya seeds, they work as a natural laxative/intestine cleaner. It almost makes me wish my mom fed me those as a kid instead of all those beans! They taste much better. Even MORE interesting fun facts, if you eat a few papaya seeds with a spoonful of honey, it typically kills any parasites living inside you. Needless to say, this trip home was knowledge-packed.

This spring, P and I both bought bikes. My bike is obnoxiously girly and I love it. It is a more relaxed, up-right styled bike with a low, curvy front bar. I also bought two deep brown leather (look like wicker, though) baskets that attach to each side of my back wheel. It is fantastic! We went on our first bike ride that day and went 6.5 miles with an awesome picnic lunch over looking the Fox River. We really enjoyed it. We would have gone farther but a storm was brewing so we went back to his house.

P took me to my first Cubs game! It was no ordinary Cubs game, it was a Sox/Cubs game at that. I thoroughly enjoyed Wrigley Field and the time with P, even though the Cubs lost by 3. We decided to skip the long bus lines back to the train and walk the 3 miles, as stated on the posted signs. It was a beautiful night so we thought we would take advantage of it. P tracked the walk on his phone and it turned out to be a 5 mile walk. Needless to say, we were both tuckered out that night.

Mrs. B, her husband and cub came to visit Chicago a few weeks ago. I was able to hop on a train downtown for a few hours after work one night. It was wonderful to catch up with all of them over a Chicago favorite -- deep dish pizza!

I have officially had one of my first unabashedly “adult moments.” No no, not to worry, this is an entirely appropriate story. There are a number of neighborhood kids who gather behind my apartment in the evenings to kick a few balls around. It never fails that once a night, one of their balls lands on my balcony. I have managed to convince them not to jump through the window on the roof to my balcony so I typically get a feverishly excited knock on my door when they need the ball back. Instead of answering, I know to just go to my balcony and throw the ball back. The other night, one of the little boys shouted “Eh, Jaime! The woman upstairs gave it back to us already. C´mon back!” Yep, I am officially known as “the woman upstairs.” Beautiful.

Yesterday, I planted my very own veggie garden!! I am very excited. Frecks and Wally (I am watching him again) were very curious when I was setting everything up. Frecks cautiously poked her nose into everything while Wally just rolled everywhere, jajaja. They seem to really enjoy the garden because it gives them something to investigate and hide behind as they check out the birds, squirrels, bugs and kids in the area. I like it because I am more productive, it keeps the kitties distracted from jumping to the nearby rooftop and I cannot wait to cook with the fresh veggies. I planted zucchini, cucumbers, 2 string beans, bush tomatoes, red/orange & jalapeño peppers. Mmm, yummy!

Until next time - and I promise ´next time´ won´t be 3 months from now!

First week and the 25th.

imatravelin — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 19:18:00 GMT

It was originally thought that my first week at my interim marketing position was to start 3/12 but by a beautiful stroke of a blessing, it started 3/5 (retail was burning me out and I did not want to spend another week there if I did not have to). Hence, my first week is complete! It was a whirlwind of a week. I am getting paid more to do far less strenuous work, in a comfortable office with everything I could possibly want at my fingertips and in front of senior leadership who are prodding at me to see what I am made of and how that would potentially fit into their department -- how could I NOT love this?!

Within the first day, I already had three out of state business trips planned. I will be going to WI twice by the end of the month and to MN (Twin Cities area) by the first week of April. I am looking forward to these adventures! I am going on these trips to set up and run major marketing events and then lastly observe (to later put into action for my leg of the national marketing tour) the biggest event of the year. No pressure there.

It took me a little while to wrap my head around everything that was concurrently in the works from events to 2-5 calls/day and meetings with directors/associate directors. It was relatively entertaining (not in the moment but looking back on it) when someone would ask me about the progress of a certain event and I would have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA what they were talking about because they used not a 2nd, 3rd, or 4th title of an event but a FIFTH title for the SAME event. I finally had to sit down and chart out all possible names for all of the events in the works and I could respond more inteligently.

Looking back on the week, I could not figure out how the woman I am filling in for worked more than 40/45 hrs a week, even though she constantly stated she did. It blew my mind. The associate director took care of that problem for me. Not only, did I find out, that I had to take over the same responsibilities but I also have to implement 2-3 major new initiatives on top of those responsibilities within the 3 months that I am in that position. (Note: I did not mention to the AD my thoughts on the original workload. She just happened to hear about the magic that I apparently can work when overloaded with tasks.)

I have to note that my AD (associate director) is FANTASTIC. She has been with the company since before all of the mergers came about. She has worked in every single position within the department and therefore knows what it takes to be successful in those positions. She is impressively patient and is great at helping me outline an aggressive plan of action. I also really enjoy the marketing manager. I generally do not work directly with him because he focuses more on retail and I focus more on the business channel but he has a really good head on his shoulder and a plethora of aggressive ideas for the department/company. I can see myself being challeneged in a lot of good ways by the entire team.

The week wrapped up with my 25th birthday - HOLY COW - I AM 25?! Crazy. I do not believe it. Alas, I must believe it. P took me out to a yummy Thai dinner. He kindly agreed to go salsa dancing with my since I had not gone in a long while but the place we were going to go to only offers it on Saturday nights and he was going away on a business trip for the weekend. Do not worry, he is not off the hook! We are going this coming Saturday :0)

Today was an interesting day. It was confirmation at church today and I offered to help set up, serve and clean up the dinner for the confirmands and their families. I went to the early mass at 7:30 so I could help prep during the high mass. I got to meet lots of interesting people at church that I do not normally get to interact with because I normally have to run right off to work. It was good to meet more people because I do not feel like such a stranger now. I also got the meet the Bishop. He flew in from France which was interesting. I also bought hours worth of audio books from the church bookstore. I am excited because now I have something productive and edifying to listen to on my drive to work. Two of the titles include the SSPX 40th & 41st anniversary conference serieses (sp?) and am willing to lend them to anyone if they would like to borrow them.

Fun find of the week: First, the backstory. Working at the corporate office now, I have to dress in a more business professional attire (of course). I have slowly been growing tired of the traditional button-up collard shirts and my exaspiration was expedited this week. I am growing tired of them because no matter what size button-up shirt I get, the material always seems to pucker out between the buttons which attracts unwanted attention. So, I have been in quest of buttonless professional blouses that are not low cut. It is a harder feat than one might think! I was browsing around a second hand shop on Saturday looking for materials for my latest crafty project when I spotted a number of silky buttonless professional blouses with higher necklines. The best part is, I pick up close to 10 of them and the most expensive one was 37 cents! HooRah for a great find!

The weather is warming up in Chicagoland and hopefully P and I can go bike riding soon. I cannot wait to get out and take some pictures of our journeys!

Oh! Last fun event of the week. I decided to take advantage of my traditional work week and I signed up for a knitting class. I am a self-taught knitter and really wanted to learn more techniques. Plus, I wanted to socialize more instead of just learn from a book. I started my first class on Thursday and am making a pair of fingerless gloves. It is a simple project as it is intended for starters but I have already learned a lot and will most likely sign up for another course. It is located in a cute little shop about 7 minutes from my apartment. I will have to post a picture of the project when it is completed.

I have sufficiently chatted your ear off! Until next time!

An unexpected twist.

imatravelin — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 15:55:00 GMT

The last week or so has been filled with another whirlwind of preparing for an unexpected interview. Like I had mentioned in my recent postings, I was contacted by the marketing manager to apply for a 5 week temporary assignment in the marketing department at HQ.

I worked feverishly to prepare the proposal that was asked of me. It was a solid 10 pages with appendices, bound and all that I brought with me the morning of the interview. The manager and the associate director indicated they would take about 15-20 minutes of the allotted hour to review my proposal with me. Fourty minutes passed and we were just finishing the discussion of my proposal. I found it interesting to note the questions they asked me about the proposal and my "next level" ideas.

I got a call today from the marketing manager and he indicated to me that they selected another candidate, saying that I did an outstanding job, they were highly impressed by the effort I put forth but I was not the right fit for the position. I was disappointed and frustrated because it felt like those phrases have been on repeat for the last 4 months without any clear direction as to what I can do to make myself "THE" candidate.

About an hour later, I get a call from an unknown Chicago number. Anticipating it being a customer escalation I did not want to deal with on my day off, I was about to ignore the call but akin to when my district manager called me at 8am four months ago, I found myself reluctantly answering the call.

Turns out, it was the Associate Director of Marketing calling me. I was perplexed because the marketing manager just called and told me I did not get the position. Again, she leads with the same phrases the manager gave me and follows it with information about another position that is opening up. I was intrigued because it is a 3 month temporary position that will be supporting the business channel at HQ. I asked her about the start date, to which she stated that it was last Monday. I was scratching my head so I asked her about the timeline/interview process. She said that there was none. I was even more perplexed so I rephrased my question and she responded with a similar answer. This went on for another few rounds of question & answer before she laughed at me (kindly) and flat out stated "J, we are not posting this job. I am not calling you because I am informing you of a potential opportunity. I am calling you because I am offering you the job." THEN it clicked. She was OFFERING ME THE JOB!

I will be taking on the normal responsibilities of the marketing consultant, plus spending the majority of the 3 months preparing and executing down to the most minute detail for a business expo of sorts. I am told it will be akin to the level of planning a "5 star wedding." I am excited for the challenge!! I will be starting as soon as we can get it processed through HR.

At the end of the 3 months, I will either apply for a permanent position (if one is available) or go back to my Floating Supervisor position in the leadership program I am in. If I do end up going back to my current position, my employment in the same position is guaranteed but there is no guarantee I will be in the same district I am currently apart of. My district manager said that he would make sure I am taken care of and get placed in a district close by and not shipped off to northern WI or central IL. He and my retail director have gone out of there way to support me and give me every opportunity to prove myself. I am thankful and grateful for that.

My DM says that he highly doubts I will be coming back to retail if I put forth the same effort in HQ that I have for him. On the off chance that there are no HQ positions avaiable for me to transition into, I will go back to retail but he thinks that it would be for minimal time. I hope so! I am going to do everything in my power to work my butt off to ensure a permanent position at HQ at the end of 3 months.

This explains why my DM has been really dragging his feet to approve my Easter vacation. I will be discussing my time off with the AD of Marketing so hopefully I can get that time solidified. I will let you all know as soon as I do.

Until next time!

Valentines and bikes.

imatravelin — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 11:45:00 GMT

My cooking adventures have continued. It is fun to see what I can create and how, if at all, I would like to modify it for next time. On my recently cooked/baked list, you will find

coconut almond chocolate chicp cookies,

parmesan roasted potato wedges,

kickin´ guac,

wild rice and chicken soup

aaaannndd homemade pizza. (Pre/post oven)

Wow, that was a mouth full. (.. no pun intended!)

For Valentine´s day, P took me out to the Melting Pot for a quiet, yummy dinner. It reminded me of being in Korea the way we got to cook the food on our own right in front of us at the table. For those of you who don´t know, the Melting Pot is a fondu restaurant where you cook/dip various foods from fruit to meat in cheese, broth and chocolate, depending on the course. It was great! You just need to watch out for the hot fondu forks.. they are hot. We called it a relatively early night as we were both tired from a long day at work.

P and I had been planning on starting to go biking to get back in shape and as a fun hobby, espcially seeing as though he lives near an interstate bike path. The other weekend we went to buy bikes together. I am really excited because not only did I buy a beauty of a bike, but I got it for nearly a steal! I left it at the shop since it is still icky weather but am really anxious to go pick it up so we can start biking. I will post a picture of it once I get the opportunity to do so.

The kiosk is finally closed. I could jump for joy! It took a lot of energy to wrap that beast up. It will be a while before I work another 70hr week (let alone almost 1.5 months worth of that) and I am so happy about it! I ended up sleeping for 18 hrs, followed by a 15 hr night the two days I had off immediately after closing it and not so surprisingly, I got sick. It´s not too terrible, just a head cold and some allergies. Lots of tea, honey and sleep should be the cure!

I cannot remember if I had mentioned this previously, but after speaking with several people at HQ, I think that if the Finance Department wanted me, I think they would have hired me by now. I am going to put a bow on that experience and consider it over. If they do come back to offer me a position, I will clearly consider it but I think it is doubtful at the moment. Further, I had been asked by the Marketing manager to apply for a 5 week temp position. I am on round 2 and will have to present a marketing plan/proposal to the manager and the associate director of the department. I know the AD relatively well but only know the manager through the interview process. That is coming up Wednesday morning. Hopefully, I will be over this silly head cold/sleeping binge by then so my mind will be clear for the interview.

Until next time!

What. A. Week.

imatravelin — Mon, 6 Feb 2012 11:16:00 GMT

Whew! What a week, indeed! Last week was a test of my patience and perseverance. There was an unusual amount of oddities at work which led to little time for decompressing outside of work. BUT, I got through it and am enjoying the second of my two days off.

P and I went to his house and made his infamous tacos for a quiet superbowl party. They (the tacos) always hit the spot! It felt good to kick back and do nothing for an entire evening. My favorite commercial of the night was the dog races followed by the Doritos commercial here the dog bribes the man. Also, the halftime show was my favorite in years.

My lease is almost up with my current property management company and I was met with a friendly letter on my door saying that if I want to resign with them, my rent is going to increase by 12%. It´s a pretty penny of an increase, especially looking at the total increase over a year. Of course, for convenience sake, I would love to stay right where I am but cost in this case is certainly taking priority. I spoke with the property manager and she did not seem to understand my concern about a 12% increase which was troubling. After some negociating, she said she would check if she could lower the resigning price by $20/mo. So now I am faced with a decision to take the 12% hike and stay, move to a notably larger apartment for the same price, or move somewhere a bit smaller (yikes!) and save money. Decisions, decisions!

I am still waiting to hear back on the finance job. I had no idea the hiring process could take this long for an entry level position. Hopefully it is taking this long because they are trying to swing the ball in my favor. And hopefully that´s not just wishful thinking!

Recently, I found out that my Uncle R (on my dad´s side) is having difficulties with his health. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers for the next few months.

N is having a blast in his travels. He is on his way to Thailand in about a day to visit the exchange student we hosted years ago. He is loving his travels and seeing so much of the world! He tells me that he is getting anxious to get settled in Australia and start the semester. I remember the feeling of enjoying traveling but looking forward to having a "home" and feel settled for a bit.

On a completely random note: Is there some message I am missing when a man winks at me? I have noticed lately that when a man is being provacative towards me (customer irate over nothing at work and threatening to complain about me until I am fired or the man at the deli who skips over my number after waiting 15 minutes then calls me "princess" and tells me to get at the end of the line) he will wink at me, as if it is some magical bandaid that will leave me in such awe of him and his winking abilities that I will completely forget about the transgression while batting my eyes at him. The "transgressions" are really small potato kinds of situations that don´t phase me but the winking! The wink gets my goat every time. What is the deal with that?

I have a massive amount of papers that are building up and cannot simply throw out, so, I bought myself a shredder today. I am going to go shred lots of papers and cook homemade chicken and wild rice soup.

Until next time!

Anticipation & Travels through Dubai.

imatravelin — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 19:08:00 GMT

What do you get when you mix Dubai, my little brother and my roommate from Spain? N rocking it out visiting my roomate from Spain and her husband who now live in Dubai! He arrived a night ago and is loving it! He is going ALL over the place in his travels - All over Europe, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan?, Dubai and so many other places. Huge kudos to N for being so adventurous and huge thanks to J&J for hosting N! I´ll save all of the fun details for N´s updates.

This week has been filled with anticipation. When I was at HQ the other day, I ran into the hiring manager for the finance position. He mentioned that he will get back to me this week. Part of me almost wishes he did not say that because it is now prominently in the forefront. I am trying not to let it be distracting since I have a lot of work I need to get done regardless of that call.

Work was long today. I had two large customer escalations that were consuming and very draining. A tip from someone on the other side of the counter: treat all retail/customer service employees with respect.

I hear some Maggiano´s chicken parm leftovers and hot tea calling my name - until next time!

Lazy Sunday with good company.

imatravelin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 15:22:00 GMT

I love having Sundays off from work!

Yes, I had today (Sunday) off from work. After Mass, P and I went out to lunch with several people from the choir (P sings in the choir). It was a lot of fun relaxing with several couples, their babies and other friends. We must have spent almost 3.5 hours catching up over brunch.

Afterward, P and I went to his house where we were going to cook the Auntie Annie pretzels and pumpkin pie but we were just not feeling it. So, we hung out on the couch and caught up on the week´s events that we had missed. We also made plans to take P´s good friend and wife out for a birthday dinner tomorrow night. I am looking forward to it because we are going to Maggiano´s - one of my favorite Italian restaurants! And of course, great company, as always.

Completely random note: I think I will try my hand at a spicy pene rosa shrimp dish. Aka, kickin´ red cream sauce over shrimp and pasta. Pass over any and all recipe ideas if you have any!

Until next time!

Cooking kick.

imatravelin — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 19:33:00 GMT

One of my resolutions for this year has been to cook more meals at home. It has been hit or miss this year due to traveling and long hours at work but I have really been digging deep to work hard to keep my resolution. I made a few dishes this week that I am particularly proud of and want to share with you!

First, I made spicy peanut pork. There were some left overs that I have been gobbling right up! P and his coworkers thought I was trying to pass off a photo I took at a restaurant as my work when I sent him a photo of my dish. So I get the awesome "challenge" of making it for him one of these nights. Check out the spicy peanut pork below or in my album "Chicago Pixelated."

I then made homemade spiced coconut cranberry granola. MMMM MMMMM MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM is it delicious!! (The photo was taken before I added the dried cranberries)

And to round out my cooking extravaganza this week, I made coconut curry shrimp with white rice on Friday evening. It could use a more powerful kick but overall, quite good!

Rumor has it that P and I are going to make Auntie Annie pretzels at home AAANNND more homemade pumpkin pie/cookies to finish off the pumpkin pulp (flesh?) that we froze from when we made the pimpkin pie in November. I am pumped!!

The other rumor whispered in my ear is that I will hear back next week on the interview for the new finance job from December. I am praying so hard that it comes back in my favor! But, whatever happens, I will get my big break sooner or later. It sounds as though I have enough people far enough up in the chain behind me.

The location that I am working at currently is not closing at the end of January as originally anticipated. The date got pushed back to February 14th. I am hoping that either we can have everything wrapped up before close that day or the closing date gets pushed back again because it is looking like I (we all - those working to close the location) might be there through late the 14th and therefore would all have to cancel plans with significant others that night.

Until next time!

A random Monday evening.

imatravelin — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 22:51:00 GMT

I swung by the book store on my way home from work in hopes of finding a gift for someone. Since college, me plus an open bookstore equals disaster on my wallet. I was able to escape with the gift I intended to find plus only one other book in hand. I found a cookbook! Not just any cookbook, but a one dish wonder cookbook that uses real (ie, fresh) ingredients and is a pleasant combination of hometown and foreign-hometown simple, solid, satisfying meals. Tomorrow, I will round out my working "day off" with a nice fresh pan of spicy peanut porkchops and a granola recipe to mix with yogurt that I found online tonight. I cannot wait!!

While sprawled out on my living room floor (where I now have room again because P helped me remove my massive Christmas tree!) with my new cookbook and laptop in hand figuring out what meals I will cook for the remainder of the week, I kept hearing an eerie scratching noise. At first I dismissed it, thinking it was the annoyingly amusing neighbor´s kid. The noise persisted. Even the annoyingly amusing neighbor´s kid retreats after a difinitive period of time. I discover that this noise is coming from my bathroom. I mosey on over only to find that Freckles had opened my vanity cabinet, climbed up to the top shelf and was digging out a pleasant pile of Q-TIPS! Mind you, my cabinet shelves are maybe 3 inches wide and go almost 4 feet above the sink. She is one persisent kitty and by "kitty" I mean almost 9 year old cat. Turns out, she must have been doing this all day because she had a pile of Q-tips surrounding my kitchen table and all through my bedroom. Apparently I need to make more catnip toys and better hide the Q-tips!

On a completely separate note, I am trying to get some time off from work for a long weekend home over Easter. What is everyone in NY doing that weekend? (Sunday, April 8th)

January adventures.

imatravelin — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 20:08:00 GMT

Wow, January has just about come and gone.

It is interesting to watch my progression at work over the last few months. During the Fall, I think my district manager got the notion that I was not fully statisfied. November hits and he offers me a huge position (to apply for it anyway) at corporate. From there, the ball began rolling at full speed to test my character, ingenuity, dedication and leadership skills. Not only do I find myself being handed responsibilities from my district management team, but also from the regional management team. It is tough work and I am putting in lots of hours, but I am really starting to enjoy the challeneges presented to me.

With that being said, for most of January I have been filling in for a manager and running a store location. In fact, I am preparing it to close down. It is surprising at how much effort goes into closing a store and doing it in an audit-compliant manner. Added to the fun mix of standard responsibilities of running a store, there have been break-ins, stringent quotas to meet and a large reporting project to build and maintain which have tested my patience, time management skills and ingenuity. Tasks of this size are normally handed to a person of higher ranking in the company so I am extactic to see how responsive my management team was when I was asking for more challenges and heftier responsibilities. I was even more honored when my director recognized me infront of the entire region at at ¨town hall¨ meeting to give me a rare award for my dedication and ownership of responsibilities far above and beyond my normal duties. I am completely blown away by the amount of support shown to me by my management team because I would not be able to do nearly as good of a job if they have not supported me in the manner in which they have.

For better or worse, I did not personally hear that recognition because I was away for a long weekend in NY! P and I ventured back to my old stomping grounds and were welcomed in by a thick white carpet.. of snow! It was icky and stormy but after a long drive from the airport we made it safely to Grandmal and Grandpap´s! There were lots of laughs, conversations, taco night fiesta fun and of course naps to be had. We even piled on the snow gear, boots and toasty gloves to go out and romp in the snow when the storm settled. The kitties missed me lots after 4 days but they kept each other company while I as gone. (I still have Wally because P is going away on business trips).

Yesterday was an adventure! P´s and my schedule finally coincided so that he could help me take my tree out. There are pine needles EVERYWHERE. We did our best to clean up the hallway leading out the apartment complex door but I am convinced the cleaning lady will report me to the property management company. After that, we had the relaxing day I very much needed (I suppose both of us, for that matter). I did laundry while we bummed around and watched movies. (By the way, if you have never seen ¨A man for all seasons¨ then I would highly recommend it.) It was such a bum day that I got to introduce P to toasted PB&J sandwiches and then jump out from the basement and scare the BaJeeBees out of him! :0)

Until next time!

Christmas cheer.

imatravelin — Thu, 5 Jan 2012 14:30:00 GMT

Merry Christmas!

The Christmas Season was fantastic. I am grateful that my managers allowed me four days to be able to spend with my family. While sleep was rare to come by, I recharged my batteries and caught up on stories by sitting around dinner tables and walking down snowy sidestreets of small-town NY. It was wonderful. I even passed time holding Grandmal´s hand as I had a toenail removed! She was a trooper helping me sort through the doctor´s sarcasm and then recounting the funny story to Grandpap!

I am very much looking forward to returning to NY in about ONE WEEK with P! It feels odd to me to go almost 9 months without being able to get back to NY and then I am there twice in about two weeks but I won´t complain J

The kitties stayed at my apartment while I was gone and they had a field day with my tree. The tree was still standing but I was surprised there were still needles on it because it seemed that they were everywhere! They were so content hanging out with each other while I was gone that they could not have cared less that I returned home for about the first 4 hours. At least I had time to unpack!

The reporting project that was assigned to me at work by the Regional Director has started in full swing. I made the decision to send the report out myself instead of sending it to a financial analyst to distribute for me and have been pleasantly surprised with the new challenge it has provided me. It helps keep me driven at work and is a critical talking point in interviews.

I received word Wednesday that I have a 3rd round interview with HR for the Financial Analyst position that I applied for about a week prior to Christmas. It is a phone interview and I am not entirely sure what to expect. It is coming at a great time because there has been quite a shake up in my district as the location I am currently positioned at is being strategically closed. While my job is not in jeopardy because I am a district employee, it will be a welcomed change of pace. I am praying so hard that I get this position! I am ready to have a M-F 9-5.

New Years was a lot of fun. P had a small get-together at his place with dips galore! He must have had about 5 different dips for veggies, chips and crackers. He doesn´t always let on but he is a quite a good cook! We played a game called Quelf. It is the most random board game you will ever play!! You roll a dice, move your player that many spaces and select the coresponding color card. The topics range from being given a rule, category, stunt, performance or quiz. I have not laughed so hard in such a long time. It was great.

Today, my first of two days off this week, I was busy cooking up a storm! I made two pans of spinach eggplan lasanga, blueberry vanilla frozen yogurt, frozen yogurt banana pops/kebabs, cupcakes and I am still in the process of making egg salad, blueberry muffins and pomogranate frozen yogurt. Mmmm MM! Amongst my many resolutions for the new year, I am vowing to be more mindful of my budget and eat healthier. It is such a temptation to eat out (and junk food at that!) with an odd work schedule so I am trying to cook in mass quantities to always have something healthy prepared for me. I´d say this is a good start!

I need to finish preparing for my interview. I hope you all had as wonderful and warm of a Christmas as I did. All of my love from Chicago!

And exhale.. for a moment.

imatravelin — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 16:27:00 GMT

I can´t believe how much time has gone by since my last post. Sorry! LOTS has happened at work since the interview.

I will cut to the chase: No, I did not get the job I applied for. However, a myriad of good events have come since then. The candidate that got the job offer had much more experience than I and could hit the ground running. Each of the three directors have reached out to me several times either by personally emailing or calling me. They each let me know in his/her own way that even though I was clearly the underdog in the situation, they were so impressed at my preparedness and quick learning curve that they said I turned lots of heads high up and wrote my own ticket to skyrocket through the company if I so wished.

It feels good knowing that I have some company heavy weights in my corner. To help boost my skill set, one of the directors called me to let me know there was an opportunity to take on a big reporting project. Normally, this project would be given to a senior finance analyst of sorts so it was/is a big deal he is asking that I take it on. I have a massive budget to manage and sizable reporting files to maintain and distribute weekly for a first quarter company initiative. After speaking with my district manager, it is hitting me just how sizable this task really is, especially since it is in addition to my current role/responsibilities. I am excited to run with this new project though. I am even more grateful that my director not only saw the need for an opportunity like this in my resume/skill set, but also has enough confidence in me to hand the lead to me on this.

Additionally, the Associate Director of Finance called me recently to let me know that there was another position for the area (covering 15ish states, not just 2) that would be better suited for me. When I told her that I applied, she said she had put in a good recommendation for me. I was contacted by the Associate Director of Finance for the area within several hours saying I had a back to back interview with her and the hiring manager for the new position in several days. I went to the interview and felt I did well. The two managers who spoke with me were very difficult to read. I am told that I will know the results by New Years or so.

Ok, enough about work!

The other day P came over to help me set up my Christmas tree. It looks beautiful! I am so excited that it is up. Both of the kitties (I am kitty sitting Wally again) love to hide around and under the tree but thankfully have no interest in climbing up it or batting at the ornaments. I love how my apartment now smells like Christmas, too.

I believe most everyone knows already buuuut P and I booked a trip back home so he can meet my friends and family. We are traveling F:1/13- M:1/16. The schedule looks like it is quickly filling up so let me know if you are going to be in/around my hometown and would like to meet up with us. We would love to see you!

Oh boy, I am sure I am missing lots of good happenings around Chicago but my brain just cannot think anymore. I wish you all a very merry Christmas and the happiest New Year! Keep in touch! I love to hear how you are doing, too! :0)

Oh, and don´t forget to check out my pictures that I posted in the album (I think it´s on the lower right hand side of this page, or the main page). You can see my Christmas tree and why Freckles hates P and me now.

Here is a teaser photo:

Yes, my tree takes up half of my 550sf apartment but it is awesome.