Years gone by

Well so yesterday I came to the end of my 23rd year on this earth. I'm feeling positive about 24 it seems like a good age to be hopefully it will be a year of less stress but I seriously doubt that given my chosen profession. I don't normally ever do new years resolutions unless I truly think I will benefit from it and that it is an achievable goal. This year I have two:

1) To pass the CFP(R) exam (there are 3 test dates a year and I realize I may have to take it more than once but again I believe it's achievable).

2) To get a puppy! this does not exclude older "dogs" but I would like a poodle mixed with something else so it won't kill Tim because of his allergies (I'm considerate that way).

I can't post any pictures from kansas and christmas or my birthday yet as my camera is currently dead. But Happy New Year to all and to all a good night!

Fixodent and forget it

I currently have a fake tooth, this morning while eating some granola a large chunk of one of my molars cracked and fell off. I had to have a emergency dental procedure and after 400 dollars (that's with my insurance) I now have a fake tooth for the next 3 weeks that could fall off at any time if I eat crunchy things or gum...oh I am so excited. Plus my mouth hurts!

Less than 24 hours

It has kinda been a sucky thanksgiving break for me. Besides for maybe Sunday, because I went out with a friend and had vietnamese food and went shopping but mostly I spent my time alone baking large amounts of christmas cookies to send to family and shopping by myself. In less than 24 hours my beloved returns to me. Hooray! I'm silly I know but being in the house alone is just not as fun as you might think after a day or two. Plus with all stress at work of being a real financial type now I need some one to come home to, to be with, who always has my back. I'm so thankful to have Tim in my life.

So Lonely

In my life since college I have lived in about 10 apartments, two of which I lived by myself for a semester each. I don't remeber ever feeling very lonely either time I lived alone. On Quivera I lived next to my bestest friend, Brande and then my last semester I lived in the graduate and upper classmen apartments but I was so busy I never felt lonely that I recall.

Tim went to his parents house for Thanksgiving. I'm alone for 8 days. Maybe that it's that I'm alone over the holiday or maybe it's because it's the longest we've been apart since I moved out here but it feels pretty rough. That is pretty much all.

Busy, busy shockingly busy

You've no idea wha we have to do. busy busy dreadfully busy more than a bumble bee more than an ant busy busy shockingly busy we love to help but we can't!

From the Tale of Fiberoloo (Veggie Tales)

As the words of the queen and david bowie song "pressure" run through my head I'm not sure how I'm going to make it through this coming week. I have my insurance examination on Tuesday (wish me luck) I have a big meeting with my boss where I need to ask him to let me have a part time job or a raise because I'm finding that I literally cannot live off what they pay me. I have to start writing a seminar with my coworker and have little get together with him and his wife and Tim. AND my mom is coming (which I can hardly contain my excitement) but Tim wants our house to be immaculate for her so it means a whole lot of cleaning. My weekend is packed with work meetings and museum fun in San Francisco with Tim and Emiko I just hope I can pack all this other stuff into the first three days of next week.

I feel it in my fingers

It's getting close to this magical holiday season. Can you feel it in the air? Thanksgiving is a time to think on what we are most thankful for in our lives so in no particular order these are my top ten things I am thankful for:

1. God's love - I all too often take this for granted but I am so happy to know that I don't live a life void of purpose or direction, I am so grateful that God loves me and has a plan for my life.
2. My friends and family - no matter how far away they are.
3. My wonderful boyfriend, Tim
4. That I'm going home for Christmas.
5. That I have passed my first 3 tests for work - all on the first try.
6. That I have a Brande that complicates me.
7. That Kelly and I are going to Disney World in January 2009.
8. Taco Flavored Doritos - that the exist and that you can't buy them in California so I can't eat them very often.
9. Anti-depressants - for people with Depression (like me) they really do a world of good.
10. Pierre - the neighbor cat that I just named and fell in love with and I'm glad he comes over to see us lots since I can't have a puppy.

it's the great pumpkin, charlie brown

you know I've realized that my peanuts references really do nothing for me in the town charles shulz built. I need to get back to Ziggy or Calvin and Hobbs. Anyway Halloween is fast approaching. This makes me excited and sad all at the same time. I like Halloween a lot, it is probably my second favorite holliday. When else could you not shower and dress up like a hobo or dress skanky and not be looked down on for it. Plus the excess of chocolate is always good. Tim and I bought a pumpkin to carve, put up orange and purple lights in the front yard and are planning to make luminaries to light our walk way to encourage children that even though or house faces an ally "Yes, we will give you candy!"

The evil part of halloween is that it's the gateway to the greater holliday season. This year I get to be completely alone for Thanksgiving and then I have to choose to either be with Tim or my family for Chrstmas.

So for now I must go. One week from today I have test number 2 for the new gig so wish me luck.

it's been awhile

A whirlwind two months...sorry for the lack of updates but I have been super busy, super stressed and most of the time way too emotional and as always borderline crazy. So I have met Tim's family (on a vacation in Oregon), become a registered representative and celebrated my one year anniversary with Tim (for which we went to Santa Barbara for the weekend) in that order. Work is, let's just say, challenging. I'm not convinced at all that this is what I want to do. For the moment though it is a good expirience to have.

So other than that what have I been upto? I have been taking in my spare time a tax prep class (hoping that I will be able to increase my cash flow during tax season-however it still has yet to be approved by Manager) and I have also begun my training to be a track star. Ok I'm kidding (sorta) Kel and I have been talking about it for awhile now but we are going to make it happen: The Walt Disney World Half Marathon in January 2009. So I literally have been "training" I've never really run at any point in my life so I'm trying this whole walk for awhile, then run for a while, repeat routine (my hip hurts by the way.) I have over a year so I know I can do it. I'll try to get some vacation pics up net time.

Because it's Saturday....

Almost every Saturday since I moved to California Tim sings me a little song in the morning about what you don't have to do like go to work or school and you can stay in bed all day "because its Saturday" the song makes me happy and now that I don't work on the weekends any more the song makes me more happy.

So I have now completed my first two weeks at my new job, mostly just studying to pass test and having to deal with being one of only three women that are financial advisors. So it can suck a lot. I'm looking forward to being done with my first big test at the end of september. The day I actually take the test is our one year anniversary so either i'll be double happy or really crabby.

I did, however, get a day off so I am going to Oregon with Tim's family at the end of this month.

Catharsis

It has long been my philoshopy that journaling is very healthy and helps you maintain your sanity. I have lost my sanity recently and so I've decided to try and blog more often for those of you who read this. Also I will actually write in my personal journal (something I have only done twice since moving to california). I just need to put it back in my routine.

On the work front, I'm now in my second week of work at my new firm. Last week was just bordem and not knowing what to do but now I feel I have a little more direction and I at least have my study materials for the series 7. I also sucessfully asked for the friday off before labor day so I'm going to Oregon for that weekend with Tim and his family.

To bed I go, but check back soon for more updates :)

Friday is Magic for Muggles!

I'm having mixed fellings as we approach the end happy that we'll know but sad that there won't be any more. I am refering to the last Harry Potter book (I'm being completely upfront about my dorkiness here). I also decided to go stand in line at midnight tomorrow so I can start reading earlier and finish over the weekend before I have to go back to WORK on monday.
Oh yes folks that was no typo, I did get that job and I actually heard back the very next day, so I am getting back into the grind after being unemployed for 2 months now. I'm nervous and excited all at once. Now all I have to do is get the guts up to ask for the friday before labor day weekend off so I can go with Tim to meet his parents.

Friday

Tick fricken tock! So Friday is the big day I find out from this super fantastic firm if the want me or not (I won't mention company names in my blog but I promise you've heard of it.) It is so hard to have an exact date and then comes the waiting. The exciting news is that if I get it then I will pack up my bags and go to Colorado for 5 days, if not I'm staying here to take the county's civil service exam. I'm trying to talk Tim into going to CO with me so I can show off my child hood. I met his niece so now it's time for him to meet my Katelyn, Tony and Michael. Oh and I threw in another picture from Lisa's visit, it is me and Tim and the japanese tea garden in Golden Gate Park.

I cannot be trusted...

...to blog in a timely fashion. even as I am unemployed and should have an abundance of time on my hands I seems to always have something to do. A month has passed and yes I still have not found gainful employment. I do have volunteer work I have been doing with a homeless women's drop in center, which has been rewarding and fun. I've missed volunteering since I left home. I especially miss the staff at LCM.
In other news, recently we had our first house guest since moving in to our new house, my best roommate ever from the college program came to stay with us for just under a week and while Lisa was here we also got to go see Ali in the City while he was there for a wedding. It was a nice mainstreet reunion. I will post some more pictures once I get them from Lisa, I gave up on my camera after a while out of sheer laziness. I will try and write again soon, I've sat down numerous times trying to blog and even have some drafts to finish one of these days but until then.

Ode to tedium

Tim and I were discussing how every job in the world must be tedious at times. (This was actually my stance on the subject he disagreed). Right now though I say bring it on! I'm ready to cold call, send out flyers and join every professional group in town. I am so ready to be working not in just any job but in my chosen field and if down the road I get burned out well then it's back to school for this girl and then I can just get my masters in something else. If there is one thing I would say about myself is that I am adaptable and willing to change tacts if one isn't working - I refuse to beat a dead horse.

So I just had an interview with the firm of my dreams, and I'm still waiting on the offer from the firm of my nightmares. I have hope however, that even if I have to be unemployed for a little while that I will be able to find a job in my chosen profession and not just at another booth peddling my wireless solutions.

I also have been considering this morning that if I do in fact get this job with the start date of July 23rd. I might skip town for a bit (since there would be no chance of going on vacation with Tim's family) I miss my peeps, all of them! So then the question would be where to go? Maybe home, maybe CO, maybe FL...but I think it just might be a good idea. Here are some pictures of the totally rad people I miss:

so bored

what surprises me about being unemployed is that I still manage to have stuff to do most of the time. My house is cleaner, we don't lack for laundry and the dishes are always done and I water the garden. I've been doing a lot of job applying mostly and also researching the series 7 exam (which I found out I can't take unless I'm employed by a company that is registered by the NASD) Anyway I'm bored out of my skull so feel free to call me and chat my ear off I won't mind. I'm going to go be super productive and hope I forget that I'm not bring home any bacon.

Crush, Kill, Destroy

My company's (well former in a few days) new 2007 motto or at least what it should be. I've been feeling icky the last few days, we are talking really icky. I think that due to all the stress from losing my job and searching for a new one my body just wants to give up and doesn't really care to "fight back" anything that comes to ail me.

I'm ready to have another job lined up, I would love it if there was nothing more than a weekend between this job and the next. Mostly the weekend because I have plans this weekend. Tim and I are going to the San Francisco to do the free museums in May thing and other wise putz around for the day.

In other news, on May 15th Pan's Labyrinth was released on DVD. I know that it wasn't available in theaters everywhere (especially for my Kansas readers) but it is out now so you have to see it. Don't be deterred by the subtitles at all, it is one of the best movies I've seen. It is pretty graphic but the movie does take place in Spain right after their Civil war. It doesn't have a clear ending and you can choose to believe in the fantasy or not. I highly recomend it.

One week

So my head is spinning with all the applications and calls I have been getting because of the applications. I had forgotten how tiring the full time job search can be. I am now trying to take a new look at this "opportunity" because if I can get a job relatively quickly I will have 3 months of double income!

That sounds like a vacation to me, I want to go to Disney World, Tim wants to go to the mountains (If I can get him to the Rockies I will be quite willing to cave.) I'm trying to stay as positive as possible. I'm not on the street pan handling or anything yet.

Tonight starts the last "weekend" of my job before I go on the permenant weekend. I'm really excited, tonight is the first wednesday night market in downtown Santa Rosa along with a free jazz concert in the park and Tim and I are going. We will probably finish the evening assembling our new lawn furniture we got last night. Ah the weekend.

Downsized

There are so many good jokes that come to mind: We aren't picking up your option, you are part of an outplacement program, were movinging in another direction. The main gist of these is the fact that I just lost my job. The rent went up for my location and my company decided that we weren't profitable enough to merit paying more to keep us open. So I sit before you jobless in 2 weeks time with a lovely severence package and a soul full of worry.

"when one door closes another opens"...yes yes I've heard it, it's been a main theme in my life since yesterday, that and "it's for the best", and "you didn't really like that job anyway." My very favorite was "Do you want to go on vacation?" that was from my own dear, sweet Tim upon hearing the news between my tears and gulps for breath.

Overqualified. I've taken my time looking for the "right" job knowing that I had this one which I was good at I had been there for years and I had good benefits with. My biggest fear now is having to find another "in between" job. No one wants a bank teller with a bachelors degree in finance. Cold, cold world here I come.

PS this is a cute picture of Tim and I and his niece to brighten up this sad post.

your commute just got longer

The gas truck explosion that took out a section of Oakland's I-580 happened early Monday morning, but it wasn't until yesterday that I got to expirience the fun of the new commute (story). Normally I don't commute to work, I live less that a mile from where I work so I walk, ride my awesome bike or if I'm feeling crappy or lazy then I might drive. However, I recently got a small promotion at work and so now being a part of the "management team" I needed to go to a special training in the South/East Bay. Living in the North Bay the drive is normally an hour and fourty five minutes to two hours, but yesterday it took me no less than three hours. So all in all a fun five hour commute (the drive back wasn't during rush hour.)

To add insult to injury because I was going all the way down to the Oakland area, Tim asked if I could run a small errand to my favorite of all places: The Emeryville Ikea. We decided to combine all of our Ikea bookshelves into one big stair stepping kind of bookshelf unit which we realized we were 2 shelves short of achieving so I grudgingly went (I hate Ikea, it sounds like a good idea in theory but there are so many choices many of which are partical board and then everyone has the exact same ugly furiture) only to find they were out of one of the shelves I needed. Meaning we get to return at some point to pick up one shelf!

Today is a new day, and a day I have off so I'm going to clean and sit in the sun and read and do something else fun. Hooray for days off!

Strawberry patches and do overs

Backstory:
My name is not Alyce. This is not my first blog. Recently it had come to my attention that my old blog had begun attaching my first and last name to my blog. Being a fan of anonymity, I deleted my old blog and decided to start fresh. Starting new though can be a lot of fun.

Currently:
I graduated from college in December. Transferred out to California with my college job, and am still currently looking for a “real” job that applies to the degree I have. I just moved again to a new bright cheery house. I live with my boyfriend and many spiders that like to come in from our garden. I’m still trying to get settled into living in California and into my new house (we are currently researching how to grow strawberries so we can add them to the snap peas and figs we already have in the garden.)
Other than that I like the color purple and still listen to Amy Grant (among other things) I love Disney World (I used to work there) and I’m still completely bummed out that Taco flavored Doritos cannot be purchased in California.