Just a Quickie to Get Paid

Hey all!

Well I feel like there is still soo much I need to tell you, but I am short on time... so a full update may need to come tomorrow. However, I needed to squeak in something because my week for earning potential ends on Saturday and I want to make sure I make my quota!

So Travis' visit was absolutely awesome! It was soo great to have someone who knows me so well around. We did a bunch of stuff... I will lay it all out for you later.

I may have found a roommate... at this point I am being the complete opposite of picky... My rent goes up exponentially as of April 2, so I am in serious need of someone to split the rent with me. The cool part was that my boss did let me sign a lease through the beginning of August so that should give me some time to get adjusted in the new job, save some money, and spend quality time looking for a place that is going to work for me... so hopefully I don't have to move again in a year!

Leaving Legacy has been a lot easier flowing than I had thought. I have been super busy with life stuff and so is pretty much everyone else at work... so I am kind of just getting to teeter out. I think they also assume because I will be on property they don't have to freak out... We shall see how this all works out.

I have basically two dates lined up for this weekend with the same guy, which I am really excited about. He is really nice, but also a smart ass so there is a good balance.

I have so many things coming up and that will all be listed out in the next edition. The biggest two excitements are getting to sleep in tomorrow and monday! I feel like I haven't slept in ages!! And on that note I have to go get ready for date #1... till next time!

SO Much Going On!!

So we last spoke, if you will, on Saturday the 15th. I had run a race with my co-workers and was getting ready to start partying. The party was fun. I got away for a little bit with Liam and Candy, which was great getting to know them. I didn't spend too much time with Tony, which ultimately was probably better for me, but it was very nice to see him. And ultimately, after waking up super early on no sleep and starting drinking at 12pm after not having drank in almost a month... I managed to stay up till about 10:30 then I cozied up into bed, which I am thankful for. I missed out on fights and a couple other random dramatic things that I am sure I wanted nothing to do with.

Sunday I got up nice and early and cleaned up for Bill. He put on such a great party he shouldn't have had to clean up to. Bill, Tony and I chatted for a little bit. I was supposed to go to another St. Paddy's party, but with the chaos of the next two weeks I stayed home and got A LOT of Taft work done, which I could not have been more thankful for. Sunday at work was actually ok, despite having not wanted to go in, in the first place.

Having to actually work in the office is never fun, but I dressed up for St. Paddys and it was actually pretty quiet, which I was entirely thankful for. I was able to take a little bit of a nap and eat a delicious meal (added back in steak and that was lovely... only very mild side effects). Then I headed off to Jake's for the celebrations. It was low key and more fun than I could have guessed. A bunch of friends from the club showed up, made some new friends, learned a new card game, and all in all had a blast. I am so happy I did not blow it off.

Tuesday was the day to put in my two weeks at the day job, which I was very happy about. My boss did her best to make me feel bad about it, but I know it was the right decision... which reminds me I promised a run down of the two jobs and what I chose...

Job 1: Operations Assistant with a Ticket Brokerage firm -- company has been around for about 6 years. 2 person company (one potentially leaving in the semi-near future), great vision and dream for where they want it to go and where one could go with it. Lots of responsibility and challenges. Opportunity to really learn lots of new things, including how to run a business -- they are going away for 5 weeks during the summer and need someone they can trust. Get to focus on music, sports, theater, etc and learn as much about each as possible. Good base pay with some bonus potential, M-F 7:30-4:30, hour lunch, about 20-30 min commute, health benefits and vacation after 60 days, ticket perks. Very desk oriented, potential down the road to do more marketing, event type stuff and help grow the business.

Job 2: Corporate Sales with a Software Programming company focusing in automation amongst other things. Company has been around about 5 years, very established, growing and has been recognized in major tech media. 3 people, looking for a developer, this position created new. Lots of responsibility to build current client relationships, create new client relationships, and general networking, joint ventures, etc. Challenge to learn tech speak, I would want to take some programming courses to be well versed and able to speak intelligently with potential customers and clients. Flexible schedule, time off, good base pay with commission scale in place (able to be altered as more information is gathered), no office, cold calling and office visits, travel to Denver and Boulder, health benefits. Realistic view for company growth and path with opportunity to take over all/most marketing down the line.

I ended up taking job #2 for a variety of reasons and I am pretty comfortable in my choice. Ultimately, I am much more likely to be able to quit both part time jobs with the second position verses the first. Of course, that is not something that can happen immediately, but at least I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.With all the job stuff so many questions of should I move or stay or all sorts of things came up. I was able to sign a lease with my current apartment until Aug 1. I need to find a roommate to be able to stay here and afford it. I figure that is a good time because by then I should be able to quit at least the club and then move somewhere half way between Denver and Boston to make my back and forth commuting a little easier.

Soo many great things happening. On top of jobs and housing Travis is here to visit!! I will give you that run down next time. On Friday night I won the area Table Topics Speech Contest and will be heading to the district contest on April 12. I was a bit surprised and even more so, when I found out the person before me gave a VERY similar answer to my response. I can proudly say I earned my 3rd trophy just this year! So now I get to go and speak in front of even more people and hopefully wow them with my speaking abilities and my confidence in myself. That win definitely made up for my blah speech in club on Thursday night.

Well know I am completely exhausted! Stay tuned for updates on my time with Travis, roommate search, and some of the last days of working at Legacy... oo and 4 nights in a row of working at the club, and finally a potentially date and not from OK Cupid -- I totally gave up on that crap!

Till next time, thanks for reading!

WHAT A WEEK!

Well this has been a crazy and interesting week for sure! I saw the therapist, but then realized I probably have health benefits that cover this... which I do, so now on the hunt for someone who is at least covered by my insurance (my current insurance will pay for the first three visits, super awesome! I missed the nutritionist because I had the time written down for the wrong time, but that actually worked out well since she apparently does not do Elimination Diets. So now I have to wait until March 31st so see the next one, by which hopefully most items will be added back into my diet. But there is some testing she talked to me about that I will probably suck up and pay for.

The interview went well and I should be getting an official offer today, because I got an official offer from the other position on Wednesday and they want an answer on Monday. I really want to consider all of my options and visit the pros and cons of each position and make an educated decision. The funny thing is I am already trying to figure out if I should stay or move. Do I want to deal with a roommate, can I afford living on my own. What is the commute like for both jobs, etc. The exciting part is that on Tuesday I will get to put in my notice! Yay for life changes and taking chances.

I have now had two dates from OKCupid... neither were anything of special note. Both the conversation was good and flowed easily enough. Just neither really provoked any kind of lust or interest beyond talking. I have only been doing this for about a week and I am already completely over it. I am so not the type to really focus on trying to find someone. While I would love to have someone special in my life, I am not afraid of being alone. I guess it will happen when it is meant to be... and speaking of things meant or not... Tony and I finally talked and worked things out and I am very happy to say that he recognizes he is stuck with me as a friend in his life for a while. And I am perfectly ok with this, it actually makes me very happy to have put it in its place.

I started today with a 5+ mile walk with some work friends, am headed for lunch at my bosses place and then the partying and chaos of the next two weeks begin. I have an insane amount of shifts at the club because a server quit and the other one is on vacation. I have parties today, tomorrow, Monday and Thursday. I give a speech on Thursday in my toastmasters club and then have to speak at an area contest for toastmasters on Friday. Travis comes in on Friday night, and I am doing my best not to have nine million things that I want to do with him. I am absolutely utterly ecstatic to have him coming to visit!

Things are definitely looking up and I could not be more excited. Then next two weeks are going to be insane and awesome I cannot wait. But first I must finish laundry, vacuum and get myself ready for the celebrations! Hope everyone has a great week. I will do my best to check in and give you an update sooner rather than later -- at least a little bit about the jobs and which one I choose and why.

Happy St. Pattys!! Erin Go Bragh!

Taking its Toll

Diets... bagh! I am a healthy eater, but this is extreme! I just want pizza, beer, mac and cheese, and ice cream! But I am getting there. I successfully added rice into my diet on Thursday and the next item gets added in tomorrow. I have so many options and they have been switching back and forth. I just cannot decide what will be easy on my stomach to add and a good base item to have in the diet. Taking suggestions if you have them... they say to wait a little while before you add back in the big offenders like wheat and dairy... So I plan to do the dairy in stages and wait till the end of the month for wheat.



I am definitely in a funk... I am having some combination of a brain that won't shut off and just going along with the motions. I just want to find some sort of even keel, middle ground. I am an overload of emotions lately, and I truly do not know how to deal with that.I am going to see someone on Monday, and damn I had NO idea just how expensive that was going to be.

Monday is looking up to be a day of learning, growth, and potential change. I am meeting with a therapist to hopefully help quiet my head and get me back in-tune with myself;  a nutritionist to help with this diet and getting my fibro under control; then I am going to check out a new town. I am meeting with a friend who has a company that is interested in bringing me on to find out if it will work out for both of us; and ending off the day with a date! Weird... it will be my first date ever from online dating site... intrigued to see how this goes.

But first, tomorrow should be fun as I am going to Nederland for the ending of the Deadman Days. It is this whole, big three day celebration of a dead man conserved in ice. There are all sorts of events like polar plunges, frozen turkey bowling, volleyball, breakfasts, etc. It will be nice to get out of my house, off of my couch, surround my people...

I need to find a new creative outlet. My wrist is still pretty messed up from snowboarding, which limits a lot of my exercise. Plus my gym membership has run out so I am in serious need of some home exercises, motivation, energy, a exercise buddy... something, anything... I cannot wait to add more regular foods into my diet and to figure out this emotional crap so it can get back into a good routine and back on track.

I was trying so hard to focus on one thing at a time (my health), and the universe just did not want that to happen. I am not sure what I am supposed to do, but I know I need to do something, I cannot just be thing, do nothing, hope for something to change...

UGH BUZZZ BUZZZ BUZZZ...

Perhaps I will get in another update on Tuesday to let you all know how it goes...

Looking on the Bright Side

So a lot and not so much has happened since my last update. I was a little disappointed that I didn't write this yesterday, but perhaps I will get in two blog posts this week. Each update gets me $2 toward my wish list. Which is going pretty well, I must say. Some days are obviously much better than others, but I also keep getting great deals on things I need so my earnings are not adding up as quickly as I would like to pay down that existing debt. This week I slacked a little bit, but I am pretty sure that is because of the diet I am working on.

After being diagnosed with Fibro and my stomach being a bit on the fritz I decided it was time I took my health seriously. So I decided to do a true Elimination Diet. For two weeks I can ONLY eat fish, turkey, lamb, wild game, vegetables (minus night shades), fruits (minus citrus fruits), coconut milk, coconut and olive oil. I do feel better and am eating VERY well... I mean lamb medallions, mashed sweet potatoes, and roasted broccoli. Stuffed Cornish hen is on the menu for tomorrow night. Honestly, though I cannot explain how badly I want pizza with beer followed by that new Ben and Jerry's ice cream!! They said cravings should be diminished by now, but they are not... I get to start adding things back in, one at a time starting at the end of this week. EXCITEMENT! Except it is only one item every 3 days, because you have to monitor for reactions. So maybe by the end of April I will have figured it all out. And not have to cook 3 meals a day, its getting very tiring... mostly all of the dishes are just getting annoying.

My gym membership ended and that is sad, I will truly miss the pool and hot tub and sauna, etc. I would be excited to get back on the pole except I sprained my wrist snowboarding at Loveland a couple weeks ago. Which means I am in a bit of pain, but I have some workout dvds that I want to start and get into. Of course with the diet, it is difficult to get in enough calories so I am pretty hesitant to exercise too much at the cost of all of my energy being completely non-existent. So it is all about finding that balance... which is going to be even more complicated by the fact that our third waitress quit at the club and now I am back to 4 shifts a week...

There are many other little things, I still need a new roommate, I haven't heard from Tony in days, which is twisting up all sorts of emotions... anger, confusion, sadness, worry, etc. He is my best friend here... not sure when it happened, but it did and I miss him very much. I was hurt a bit on my birthday by the minimum number of calls and cards... I think I have gotten over it, but I must say I was hurt... so there is that, but what can you do... I guess being 2000 miles away makes everything a little more difficult to handle. But I did have some amazing people here that made up for it.

I am super excited for another cheap day of snowboarding -- my last Loveland trip only cost me $45 plus gas... and I have another of the same deal which is freaking awesome, considering the normal lift ticket costs $60. I have definitely gotten better and am looking forward to continual progress. My own equipment is definitely on my wishlist!

As per usual I find myself wanting to work on sooo many things at once, my two business ideas, finding a new job/career, health, exercise, life goals, meeting more friends, trying new activities. And while some of these things clearly go hand in hand, I have to keep reminding myself ONE THING AT A TIME!! So health, it is first and the rest will come in time... I just have to stay focused and keep a running list for all of my grand ideas, schemes, and plans.

Until next time.