Packing

I finally got started. So far, I've hauled two bags of clothes to Goodwill, and thrown away a bunch of stuff. It's a new life; I don't want to carry some old stuff with me. I want a fresh start, so only a few things will be going with me.

But anyway, I hate packing. I hate having to decide what to keep and what I don't need. I hate having to reduce my life to boxes. I'm excited about what this all means, but it's still sort of bittersweet. It's not like packing for school, where I could leave stuff at home. Instead, this is it. The only other time I can remember moving was in fifth grade. This is different. This is me moving, and not my family.

Don't get me wrong. This is what I want to do, need to do. It's just tough to think that I'm an adult now. But I know that everything is going to go alright, and that I'm just starting a new chapter. I just wish that it didn't mean I had to revisit old chapters to get there.

A week and a half

We're a week and a half away, and I've still got stuff to finish. Mainly programs, so it shouldn't be too bad. I also have to pack up my entire life and move it this weekend and early next week. And then figure out how we're going to fit everything into our tiny tiny house.

If you come to visit us, know that it'll be slightly cramped. We're going to do our best, but there's just not a lot of storage. Except in the bathroom. So if you come over, do be surprised if you see a griddle in the bathroom. It's got the most shelving space. :)

Oh, and for anyone who wants to know if I'm nervous yet, no, I'm not. Why should I be? I'm marrying the man of my dreams, my best friend. Sure, it's a major life change, and we've got a lot going on right now, but it's all good. I'm going to be able to figure it all out with the one person who knows me better than anyone, and who always knows how to make me feel better. So, no, I'm not nervous. I'm ready for the ride of my life!

Home Sweet Home

Sean and I (well, Sean) put a deposit down on a rental today. It's about 15 minutes outside of Asheville, but we're going to save quite a bit being out of the city. It's tiny, but it's cute, and we do have the opportunity to work on it some.

So we start moving in next Saturday. Looks like I'll be spending the next several days packing up my life, and getting rid of more stuff. I also have some stuff to return that were doubles of wedding gifts. Then we'll look for curtains and such, try to make it homey.

Here's the pictures of it. The front section with the big windows is the living/dining room. The kitchen is at the side door, and the bathroom and two bedrooms are all off the kitchen. And yes, I know. It's green.

Oh, and the treadmill Sean ordered came today. I had an excellent 2 mile hill workout, and did it faster than I normally do. I typically run at 1.5% incline at 5.4 mph. Treadmill conversion charts say I'm running about a 10:40 pace. Today I did 2%-4% incline at 5.7 mph. That's between a 9:00 and 10:00 pace, depending on the incline at the moment. And I felt like I could have kept going. I think there's a speed demon trapped inside me, and it's just waiting to get out. One day!

Sick

I've gotten a lovely cold. It's wonderful. I woke up on Tuesday with a sore throat, and it's just kept going since then. At least today I'm just stuffy, and not feverish like yesterday. That was miserable.

Sean's family came up yesterday and gave us a giftcard for a wedding present. All total, they collected $600. There's $500 on the card and $100 in cash. In all honesty, I think I'm happier with that than if it had been a lot of stuff. We've got plenty already.

I still need to sort through stuff from the church shower. There were a lot of doubles on stuff like 4-sided cheese graters. We also received 10 or so can openers. I have a feeling I'll be in the customer service line at Wal-mart for a long time.

We also have to start looking for a new place to live. Sean's landlords have already found someone to rent his place to, so we have to be out by February 28. But since that's the day of the wedding, we need to be out the week before at least. It's going to be tight. So we'll be making phone calls today to try and find something. If we can't, we have a last resort option which may save us some money, but it's not our first choice. I'm not putting that idea out there though unless it happens.

There's just so much to do in the next few weeks, and I still have to find a job. Of course, we need to find a place first. If we find something that isn't in Asheville, then I don't want a job here. I want to find something close to wherever we wind up living, so that only one of us has the long commute. Ugh.

much better!

Oh yeah, this is much better. I resized my name in photobucket so it's not quite so large and obnoxious! (Not that I'm obnoxious...)

The Job Search

So how's the job search going? Ha...that's a funny question. So far, I've submitted lots and lots of applications, and not heard back from any other them. Well, I take that back, I did get a call today saying that they would be on the look-out for my application.

It all started when I didn't get the position at Western. That was fine, because it was a position that I really didn't feel right about anyway. From the beginning, it was just a filler application; I knew it wasn't what I should be doing. And then I submitted one to the Juvenile Justice department, and I haven't heard anything from them. I'm not sure if they thought I was over-qualified, or if it's because of the hiring freeze for nearly all state positions.

So I submitted an online application to Cracker Barrel. I got a call asking me to come in and fill out a paper application. I did that. They interviewed me on a Tuesday, said they would talk to the scheduling manager, and call me in a couple days. Fast forward two weeks. I call to see why I haven't heard anything, and I'm told that they just aren't hiring right now, but they'll call me if they need me. One, don't tell me you'll call if you won't. Two, don't call and ask me to come in for an interview if you aren't hiring. Three, why post online that you need employees if you don't??

Last night I submitted resumes to 8 places or so, in addition to the others that I've been submitting here and there. Today, I put in four at Pardee Hospital, and three at Mission. Sean's aunt knows people at Mission, so she gave me some numbers to call. One lady called me back and said she was keeping an eye out for my application, and would try to set me up an interview. I also mailed in an application for a probation officer position. It opened on Tuesday and closes next Tuesday. That's actually the position that I'm most qualified for.

All in all, I'll keep searching, and try to keep my head up. It's just easy right now to get discouraged. I keep thinking about the fact that we get married in a month, and if I don't get a job, we can't make it. We literally have no income. It's hard too, because I really don't know what I want to do. I would love to work with juveniles, or at-risk youth. On the other hand, I have research ideas for prison systems and socialization. I'm also interested in studying the public perception of male nurses. I think in the long run, I just have to push through until I can go back to school for my masters. I have so many studies I want to do; I just have to get to that point in life first.

What a run!

I'm at Sean's for a couple days, so I decided to go for a nice run out the road yesterday. It's about a mile and a half to the stoplight right before the campus where he has class, so I timed it so that I could run to campus, and then he could bring me back.

It was a wonderful run. I was in a long sleeve tech shirt and a skirt, and I even got a little warm. The whole time, I had a clear head. For me, that's a big deal. I always have some kind of thought running through my head, but not this time. My feet kept going, but I didn't have to focus on anything except getting over when cars would come by.

All in all, I kept a pretty decent pace. I'm normally a 10:40 pace kind of girl, but I did 1.5 miles in 14 minutes. That comes out to about a 9:40 pace. And I didn't even feel like I was running hard. Granted, the last half mile was a slight downhill, but nothing too crazy. Even for the small uphills, I would be at the top before I even knew what was going on.

It was a "deer" moment for me. I felt fast, and good, and like a real runner. I loved being outside. I loved the motion. I loved that I wasn't thinking about the job search. I was just running. And it was good.