"I don't know you!"

Today I started tutoring one of my students at her house. Valeria's mother does in-home daycare, so I knew to expect some other children around. Valeria greeted me at the door and then we went up the stairs from the foyer. As I reached the top of the staircase a little Asian girl sitting in a high chairs shouts, "Mommy!" She then gets a better look at me and says, "I don't know you!" and quickly proceeds to put her hands over her eyes and say, "I'm scared!"

"Oh, dear!"

I had to use the restroom right as I got to a friend's house. I went to the hall bathroom and found pee all over the seat, courtesy of the little boys at the house. Instead of wiping it up, I decided to go to the downstairs bathroom. I didn't bother knocking. I busted right in and when I felt the steam, it was already too late. There was someone in the shower stall. I said, "Oh, dear!" and shut the door. Oops. Sorry, Benny!

Purge Round 2

After my first 10 item purge, I started thinking how easy it would be to get rid of 50 things. I even contemplated getting rid of 10 things every week for the rest of the year!

I was being a tad over-ambitious.

After round 2 of the purge, it seems that getting rid of things may not be so easy...

Here are the next 10 to go.



Pink bikini, mini cocktail set, velcro hair rollers, old school newspapers (I was on the staff, so it's not completely ridiculous that I still have them!), Sesame Street lunchbox from middle school, necklaces, electronic Scattergories, wedding planner, calculus answer book, and a green and white striped bag.

Purge Round 1

I know it sounds cheesy, but I've been doing a lot of self-exploration lately. Mostly because I'm so unenthused with my job. Last week, I had a meeting with the new HR director and she asked me if I enjoyed my job. And I cannot tell a lie...

I only took the job because I didn't have one. Even though I was only unemployed for three weeks, the thought of being a financial drain and not making my own money was unsettling to me.

So, anyway... here I am. Working 8-4, becoming increasingly irritated with my supervisor, poring over tons of blogs and various articles, trying to figure out what exactly it is that I want to do with my life.

Then I came upon this and decided that maybe I needed to get rid of some things in order to make room for all the great stuff that is about to come in! Eureka!

And today, I was watching Kimora Lee Simmons on her reality show, Life in the Fab Lane and she was eliminating clutter in her life. Her "clutter" is not surprisingly, a lot more interesting than mine, but I am beginning to sense a theme here.

Last week at church, the sermon was about preparing for God's blessing. Yes... this is definitely the direction that I need to be in right now.

So, without further ado... the first 10 things to go!



4 pairs of shoes, some honey from Australia, Bob's Sweet Stripes, Valentine's Day Lollipops, a cell phone holder, white eye shadow, and a tin of mints.

2011

Now that 2010 is behind us, I decided that I should revisit my resolutions and then create some new ones.

Here are my resolutions from last year and my results...

1. Volunteer once a month
I only managed to volunteer 4 times this year. I hope that I'll be able to find other opportunities. Am I limiting myself with the term "volunteer"? What about just helping a friend? Does that count? Hmm...

2. Take better care of myself - skincare, exercise, etc. (mostly for vanity's sake)
I think that this goal was much too vague. I am going to be more specific regarding this area of my goals.

3. Attend church on a more consistent basis
After attending a few different churches this year, I have found one that I really enjoy. I like this church a lot. They have a monthly scrapbook fellowship that I'm looking forward to attending! Also, J and I brought my mom there one Sunday and she decided that she wanted to make a commitment to coming to church with us once a month.

4. Save money (retirement, kitchen appliances...)
Money was saved for a honeymoon and we also put a down payment on a new car. We didn't get new kitchen appliances, but the new vehicle was a more pressing need.

2011 New Years Resolutions
1. Volunteer every other month (I figure 6 times a year is more attainable after only 4 times this year)

2. Exercise for 30 minutes a day (even if it means Wii Just Dance or Kinect Dance Central)

3. Become involved in the church (Hello, Scrapbook Fellowship)

4. Save money for a vacation (P's bachelorette not included)

5. Determine the motivation behind the things I say and do before I say and do them. Am I hurting or offending anyone? Am I helping anyone?

December Volunteer Venture

Back at the Goodwin House. I was there to wrap gifts for the residents. One of my friends met me there and we got to hang out a little bit. It was fun to wrap gifts and it definitely put me even more in the Christmas spirit.

It never occurred to me that as you get older, you might not be able to do some seemingly simple activities such as wrapping gifts. It was kind of sad, but I was definitely more than glad to be able to help :)

Pics here

i forgot...

to mention that there is a prisoner holding cell somewhere near my office. I'm thinking above. Right in front of my entrance door are police parking spots and I often see them bringing people in and out in handcuffs. In fact, during my first week, I saw someone in a jumpsuit with "PRISONER" on the back.

It's ok though, I worked at juvie before so I'm familiar with all of this stuff.

the job

So, I thought it was about time I blogged about my new job. I am a recruiting assistant for an IT company. Basically, I schedule interviews, maintain/update our status reports and try to keep things in order for my boss. I spend most of my day sitting in the office with him, in silence, except for the phone calls and occasional instructions and questions that follow.

I learned early on that my boss is an oversharer. He has told me all sorts of random TMI. From things that are supposed to be impressive (he once punched Keifer Sutherland for trying to ride his horse... long story) and things that are kind of odd (he just had to go home and change because his shirt isn't covering his stomach).

Last week, he tried to give me month-old cookies that were a gift from one of our vendors. Without even opening the box, I put them directly in the trash and said, "These aren't good anymore. They are hard as bricks now." And he responded with, "I didn't know. I don't eat cookies."

I didn't know if it was rude of me to put the cookies in the trash right in front of his face, but at the same time, my first thought was that I didn't want him to think he was doing me a favor by giving me old cookies.

Yeah, so that's my job. One fascinating moment after the other.

green pants...

I'm wearing green pants with a long gray cardigan sweater and a white t-shirt underneath. I also have on gray tennis shoes and made an attempt to accessorize with a pretty green scarf (gift from E). Unfortunately, the pretty scarf could not save the outfit. I am utterly unenthused with my outfit (and perhaps other things) and I think because of that, I did a little online shopping. I ordered 3 pairs of gray boots (1 expressly for the purpose of walking Wegman) and a pair of black pants and a black t-shirt.

I don't plan on telling J about the shopping I've done because he swears that every time he's out of town, I go on a shopping binge, which I'm still in denial about.

Anyway, I'm excited to go home and get out of this horrendous outfit. I'm going to Bikram yoga tonight so I'll have to do something about my ashy legs.

November Volunteer Venture

Yeah, so, I have no explanation (i.e. excuse) for the past 8 months of not volunteering. While I was unemployed, I should have been volunteering up the wazoo! Oh... wait, I had wedding stuff to deal with. Yeah... anyway... now that that is long behind me, (only have 5 more thank you cards to get out!) I managed to volunteer again!

Towards the end of last month, I went to the Goodwin House to help decorate for the holidays. We put up and decorated a Christmas tree and then helped hang other swag and decor around the place. It was a lovely way to get into the holiday spirit. I'll be going back in about a week or so to help wrap presents! Yay!

So, it looks like I'm finishing out the year 4/12... which is really pathetic. I'll do better next year.

Also, though it's not volunteering, I am tutoring with the Literacy Lab on Saturdays now. Fun times and a montly paycheck to boot! :)

Wedding (not my own) then Honeymoon!!!

J and I are going down to Richmond tomorrow for a wedding that he is in and then we leave for Rome on Sunday. I am so excited! I am really dreading the whole packing process, but I am in need of a vacation! It's been over a year since Australia!

Day Nineteen: Unemployment

I had my interview today...

And I GOT THE JOB! There is a slight increase in pay from my previous position and I get 20 days of vacation! 20 days! I was nervous that I wouldn't find vacation time comparable to my previous company where I had 24, but 20 is awesome. And I get an additional day for every year that I'm there. Definitely, very exciting. I start after the big day part 2. :)

Yay! Yay! Yay!

So, what happens to my unemployment posts? Do they only stop once I start work or do they end now? Hmm... do I still fill out stuff to get unemployment in the mean time? Hmm... I mean, I am not technically making any money until probably the end of September.

Anyway... Yay! Yay! Yay!

Day Eighteen: Unemployment

More interview prep :) I had to fill out an application for the company. Fun times. Since they work with government contracts, all the compliancy stuff is VERY important. Fascinating...

Day Seventeen: Unemployment

I'm not counting Monday, since it was Labor Day. I did have a pretty great weekend though. BBQ and games (I highly recommend Partini btw) on Sunday and then the VA Tech vs. Boise State game on Monday. I got the tickets through groupon. They were for the party deck on the club level. The club level was pretty spectacular. No lines for the ladies room or concession stand. It was also air conditioned and had great lounge area with couches and plenty of tvs. I thought the party deck was going to be crowded since it was standing room only, but it turned out to be really spacious. We left after the 3rd quarter, (while Tech was still winning...) so that we could avoid the crowds and traffic. Unfortunately, they lost. :( I still had a lot of fun at the game though. The last time I went to a game was almost 5 years ago, so it felt good to be there.

On Tuesday, I received a call from a company for a recruiting assistant position. I had emailed my resume to on August 23rd. I set up an interview for Thursday. I started reading up about the company on their website and did a little interview prep.

J got off work early because he is going out of town. I went with him to pick-up his rental car and we stopped for a quick lunch. After that we took Wegman to the pool. Weggie mostly hung out in the baby pool area, until he learned that there was a treat table. He took a number of opportunities to run to the treat table and we'd have to drag him back. His gf Abbey was along for the adventure as well.

Day Sixteen: Unemployment

I had a lot of random appointments scheduled today - mostly big day part 2 related. I also got materials together for substitute teaching.

Day Fifteen: Unemployment

I got my severance and vacation time payout today. It's kind of sad because it means I won't be getting anymore paychecks. At least I'm used to living on the cheap (2004-2006).

I paid my speeding ticket today as well. Hopefully there will be no more stupid moves like that on my part. I hate throwing money down the drain like that.

Day Fourteen: Unemployment

I'm not sure where the day went, but I had the loveliest evening! I bought tickets via groupon for "The Sound of Music" at Wolf Trap about a month ago. The day prior, I was actually dreading going to the musical because of the heat. We got there around 6:30 and by 7:30 it had cooled off a lot and the show was wonderful. I love musicals. I watched either "The Sound of Music," "Annie," or "The Wizard of Oz" every weekend as a kid.

Wolf Trap is also such a great setting. It's so peaceful and I love that I could bring in my own food for the lawn seating. We stopped at Vienna Inn and picked up hotdogs. *sigh* An evening doesn't get much more perfect than that. :)

Day Thirteen: Unemployment

Today was VERY productive. A lot of things were checked off my to-do list such as going to the post office, getting my oil changed and going to wal-mart. No update on the job front, but I'm getting my application materials together so that I can substitute teach for the county.

Day Twelve: Unemployment

A very productive Monday, if I do say so myself. I applied to two jobs, made some phone calls. My to-do list grows pretty fast these days. On Monday, I had to go to my old apartment in Silver Spring, because I accidentally had something sent there from Amazon. Oops... Luckily, it was still there and I was able to have dinner with P, her boyfriend, and my brother that evening.

Day Eleven: Unemployment

I had my interview with the Literacy Lab today. Not surprisingly, I was offered a position. Of course there are still some administrative details that have to be taken care of - background check, TB test...

There was a time when I wanted to be a reading specialist and this job falls right into that job description and the time commitment is nice because I can still continue with the job search.

J got off work early and we went to National Harbor for a Segway tour that we had purchased on Groupon. Segways are awesome. The National Harbor is not. We had dinner at place called Grace's Mandarin. It was awful. I wrote a review for it on Yelp because I don't want anyone else to get tricked into going there.