The South Should Not Be This Cold.

Quick update from out of town:

I'm in Clanton, Alabama this week on business. Its a small town--smaller than the last place I was in Alabama, and that's saying a lot. Yesterday afternoon I noticed that one of the biggest restaurants here is a Chinese buffet. In a barn. I don't think I need to even continue. Things are going well, and I'm here with a bigger group of my co-workers, so we've been having a good time. Last night we went out for Mexican food (to one of the very, very few restaurants in town) and I had a delicious pina colada. Hopefully we'll be able to forage for enough food to keep us going the rest of the week without having to eat at the same place every meal. Also, it was 12 degrees colder in Alabama this morning than in BOSTON. Snow flurries last night in ATL! Global warming is not real. Period.

I had an excellent weekend. Went out for dinner to Mellow Mushroom with some new girl friends on Friday night and ate way too much delicious pizza and cinnamon sugar pretzels. Saturday and Sunday I mostly hung out with Andrew. It was the first weekend in a long time that we were both in town and actually free. Saturday was glorious--shorts weather, I had Krystal for the first time, played skee-ball, won a stuffed animal out of one of those claw machines, went to the Aquarium and had dinner downtown at this crazy/tacky island place and split a giant fishbowl drink with extra long straws. Excellent day overall! Sunday I was mostly lazy...packed for my trip and cleaned a little. A and I went out for sushi and saw Fast & Furious. Seeing that movie took me straight back to early high school when the the first one came out. Back when I was hopelessly in love with Paul Walker...sigh.

I'm hoping this week will go by quickly--and it probably will, since I'm out of the office. It's already Tuesday! Can't wait for warmer weather, Savannah and the Beach for Easter weekend!!, hanging out with my parents and eating as many Reese's peanut butter eggs as possible. YUM. Hope you all had a great weekend too, and have a happy Easter week! I'll update about my thrilling life when I can this week:)

Back to the grind

I had a lovely three day weekend and I really, really didn't want to come back to the office today. The weather was almost 80 degrees and sunny all three days. I practically got sunburnt sitting outside on Saturday afternoon! At least now I'm not quite as blindingly white as I was a couple days ago.

I went to Dave and Buster's for the first time on Friday night. So much fun. Its like Chuck E. Cheese for grown-ups, with a giant bar in the middle! I had a great time playing skeeball all night, and then I drank way too many sweet tea/vodka drinks, but they were delicious:) Saturday I was fairly useless, and spent most of the day sitting outside and reading and catching up on the sleep I didn't get on Friday night. Sunday was slightly more productive--at least I got all my laundry and cleaning done for the week. Then I went over to A's for our usual Sunday night tv and cooking ritual (meaning:he cooks, I eat). It was wonderful, but of course I didn't get my preferred 8.5 hours of sleep. Oh well!

All this week at work, I'm in an online class which will be taking up most of my time. Its really interesting, and I'm glad to have something to occupy the days. And then next week I'll be in Chicago!! My life is great:)

I love hip hop music

My love of rap has been renewed (not that it ever really went anywhere, I do live in the capital of crunk for goodness sake) by the Ludacris song "One More Drink". It is hilarious, and I love it. I've been telling my co-workers lately that I'm not going to feel like a real Atlantan until I spot a rapper out in town somewhere. Numerous people have told me that if I start hanging around Lanox Mall (right down the street from me) every saturday, there is no question that I'll run into someone eventually. I can't wait to start my rapper-stalking! I figure a few other good places to go: Diddy's restaurant called Justin's, Gladys Knight's chicken and waffles restaurant, and Jermaine Dupre's Cafe Dupre. I love Atlanta.

Tonight I'm supposed to have a date for trivia yay! I am so excited to get back in the game! I discovered an awesome website yesterday called teamtrivia.com that lists all the different places you can play trivia on different nights of the week in a bunch of different cities. One of the places has pop culture trivia on Tuesday nights. I'll have to go, because I know I'll dominate. :)

I'm hoping to work from home tomorrow, so today may be my only day in the office for the week! Sometimes I love to work at home--I can keep my pjs on as long as I want, eat whatever I want and actually get a good amount of work done with no distractions (except maybe a little daytime tv for background noise:). We'll see if I get my approval...otherwise I know I'll be stragling in here in the morning since I'll most likely be up late. And we all know how much I love going to bed early...

bye bye 2008

Today is a very exciting day in my new career: I got my first box of business cards! I feel very official and will probably send them out in the mail to everyone I know just because I can.

Last night I went out to the Hard Rock Cafe in downtown Atlanta. It was my first time taking the train by myself to really go out at night, and it was surprisingly fun. I was meeting a friend from Wake and some of her friends, but I got there about a half hour before they did, so I sat at the bar and had a "purple haze" drink--pretty amazing. I love the fact that I've gotten comfortable enough to hang out like that by myself. Once the group got there we had dinner and hung out watching the awesome music videos around the restaurant (including: Will Smith and the Cranberries. Awesome). I feel proud of myself for navigating my way there and back by myself and for getting out of the apartment on a weeknight. Progress!

Friday night I have plans to go out for a celebration/engagement dinner. I am so excited! I also can't wait to try the french brasserie that we're going to. Should be delicious.

Still no real plans for New Years Eve. It is one of my least favorite holidays. To me, it's like going to the Prom. Too much anticipation and too high expectations--no one ever has as good a time as they expect. I may call my one friend in Atlanta and see what she's up to. She was talking about going to the Peach Drop (gotta love the peach obsession) downtown, and I may go with her. Otherwise I'll be having a low key night by myself, which actually might be preferable. Definitely more relaxing and warmer!

I suck at blogging

My new city: Atlanta!

So, I know it has been absolutely FOREVER since my last entry. I apologize. Lots of craziness has been going on in the past month, which I will now quickly recap.

1. Worked at that bank job in Raleigh (that I was so thrilled to get) for all of 1 month. 4 whole weeks of my life, and then I quit my very first real person job to accept my very second real person job. Bigger and better things. I like to think of this as sprinting up the corporate ladder.



2. Uprooted (fairly abruptly) from the only city, and the only state I've ever lived in, to move 7 hours away by myself. Scary!



3. Managed to move into my new apartment and get settled in about 4 days while my parents were here. Then started my new job the very next Monday (a week and a half ago now).



Luckily i'm really loving it here so far. I ride the train to and from work everyday (i'm a city person now!), and my commute takes all of 15 minutes. I've met so many new people in my co-workers, a couple of my neighbors in my apartment complex and friends of a friend from Wake. It has definitely been a somewhat lonely adjustment to living alone, but it has gone surprisingly better than I would have guessed. Maybe i'm more brave and independent than I like to give myself credit for? I like to think so:) I love working in the city, and looking out my high up window view to see the tall buildings all around me. I love eating in the cafeteria in my building and grocery shopping just for me. And, although I haven't ventured out to the amazing malls here by myself yet, i'm pretty positive i'm going to love that too. Next on my to do list: buy a membership to the fantastic High Museum of art so that I can go whenever I want and see all the special exhibits anytime. Art museums make me happy, and I really think that's something i'll enjoy doing on my own.



Now i'm enjoying some delicious apple cider at my desk and taking a quick break from my work. Sorry it took me so long to update, but i'll definitely be more regular about it from now on!

finally a new post!

Sorry that its been so long since i've updated. I hate the fact that my no fun internet at work doesn't let me get on blogger to update mine or even read others! Sheesh. I can't even get onto gmail at work. Do they expect me to actually work all day long? I don't think so, haha.

Anyway, lots has been going on in the past week and a half. I started my new job last Monday, which is going well so far. Today I actually got to do a couple of things by myself! there is lots of learn and lots to remember--i've been taking a lot of notes and praying that they make sense later. My co-workers have been pretty helpful though. Its strange--they are very friendly, but I just don't get the same vibe from them as I did with my last group of co-workers. I realize I've only been there for a week, but I don't think i'll ever be close friends with these people like I was with my old group. Sigh. I like them all (for the most part), but I guess its just hard being in the same big, locked room with the same people day in and day out. We'll see how it goes. I like the location, the work, and the building is really nice. My cubicle has a nice window view and I can walk across the street to panera, target and many other fabulous places. Now that, I like.

Complicating my situation: the interview (last one for REAL) that I had in Atlanta last week. I had scheduled it before I was offered this job, and its a reeeeally amazing opportunity, so of course I still went. I left for Atlanta last Wednesday night after work, spent the night in SC, got up the next morning and did some outlet shopping. I finally had my interview in downtown Atlanta Thursday afternoon. I literally sat down for the interview and they had no questions for me! They said they had already asked me so many things on the phone, and they just wanted to meet me in person to get a feel for me. I think this means they really liked me--I doubt they would've had me drive 7 hours to the city if they didn't even have any questions for me. I liked the city and the job a lot more than I had expected. So, if they do end up making me an offer, i'm not totally sure what i'll do. Obviously, i'm happy to have my job now, and i'd hate to quit after just a couple of weeks. But at the same time, this might really be the opportunity of a lifetime. Its my one chance in life to be totally selfish and make this move just for myself. I'm single, can go wherever I want anytime I want. The job would be lots of travel and great pay, and Atlanta is such an exciting place. I'd hate to turn something like this down and end up regretting it. I definitely don't want to miss out on the adventure if its meant to be. But alas, no offer has been made yet (knock on wood), so there's no decision yet! i'll keep you updated.

This weekend is homecoming at Wake and I am sooo excited to go back to Winston for the first time since I graduated. I know it'll be depressing to realize that I don't really belong there anymore, but a couple of my best friends are coming down from MD for the occassion, so I know we'll have a fabulous time. And of course i'm looking forward to getting out of the house for a weekend!

And of course, there is the election. To say i'm disappointed is probably an understatement, but at the same time I am not surprised. None of the top offices I voted for were winners--not the president, governor or NC senator. Its funny because this is only the second election i've ever voted in, but the first time all of my candidates won. So its a strange feeling to be a loser (in all the categories) for the first time. I am very skeptical about Obama, but i'm definitely open to hearing what he has to say and what he does about all of the issues he is faced with. He has a tough road ahead of him--I wouldn't wish it on anyone. But I'll be cheering him on and I hope that he does the best job he can do. Side note: what was Michelle Obama wearing last night?? Honestly?!

Enjoy--hopefully the next post won't take quite as long!

New job has begun!

Today was the first day of work at my new office, and I really think i'm going to love it there! I'm officially a bank employee--dream come true, haha! The building is nice, the people are nice, and its literally walking distance from North Hills in Raleigh so I can go to Panera or Target or shoe shopping on my lunch break yay! Tomorrow my two bosses are taking me out to lunch--should be fun.

Today was mostly boring, orientation-type stuff, but I got to shadow a few people in the department to start learning what they do. I think it'll be really interesting. Tomorrow i'm going to take a couple of pictures and my coffee mug to make my new work home a little more cozy.

Blogging is officially off limits at the office, so my posts will probably become less frequent. But, judging from the fact that I didn't go online at all today, i'll probably actually be motivated to turn my computer on at home, so hopefully i'll update then!

lovely friday

My week of vacation is officially over today--boo. Its amazing how much faster the days go by when I'm not doing much of anything and not sitting in an office. Although, I am pretty excited about starting my new job on Monday! I will definitely miss the getting up whenever I want and going wherever I want. Sigh.

I've got a couple of errands to run today--opening a new bank account at my new bank(!), and tonight i'm going out in downtown Raleigh for margaritas with my other Brittany. I'll probably spend the night downtown with her too--yay! I haven't been "out" in a looong time, so i'm looking forward to it. I baked some really delicious banana bread this morning, curtesy of Paula Deen, and she didn't let me down. It was fabulous. Hopefully i'll also get to vote early this weekend yay!

I had a major shopping trip on Monday, which included buying this dress from Forever 21. Its very unlike me to buy anything thats not a solid--or bascially anything exciting at all while shopping alone, haha. But I think I made a good choice. Mine is green instead of pink, with smaller flowers and little black and gold striping around the side.

I heart time off from work.

Since I got my new job last week (yay!), I have this entire week to do anything I want/absolutely nothing, and its amazing. The fair was great on Friday--in almost 6 hours there, I managed to ride 5 rides, collect zillions of free pens, pencils, stickers, and ate a turkey leg, fudge elephant ear, pork loin sandwich and some hish puppies. Delicious. I'm probably going back tomorrow to take my grandpa--fair overload!

Nothing too exciting this weekend--mostly stayed around the house, and then went to the parade of homes with Erin. We toured so many amazing houses--we didn't bother with anything under $1M, haha. So, whenever we make our fortunes, we'll know exactly what kind of enormous house we want to buy.

Yesterday I had to get drug tested and finger printed for my new job--pretty intense! Thank goodness i'm not a criminal. Went out to lunch with my mom, then did some marathon shopping at the mall. I'm so proud of myself--not only did I use 4 coupons that I had gotten in the mail, but I got a good chunk of Christmas shopping done because the sales we so great! I just hope I don't forget about all of this stuff under my bed in 2 months.

I got the job!!

I just found out that I got the job in Raleigh that i've really been hoping for--YAY! So excited, to say the least. Today is my lucky day! Hooray!

Last Day

This will be the last blog from my office! Very strange since I bascially only blog from here when i'm sitting at the computer endlessly. And i'm not sure if i'll be as able to write at my new job (whichever job that may be...), so i'll keep you updated on that.

Today is definitely bittersweet. My co-workers surprised me with breakfast this morning--Panera bagels and cream cheese anf fresh fruit, and a balloon for my chair! They are so great and I really will miss them a lot. But, if I end up staying in Raleigh, it'll be easy for me to keep in touch. And thank goodness for email.

Otherwise, today is finally one of my favorite days of the year--State Fair day! Yipee! I'll be leaving here in a couple of hours, dropping off my suit at the cleaners, then i'm off to begin my afternoon-long feast. So excited. I just hope the rain/weird cold weather will hold off until later tonight when i'm exhausted and in bed by 10pm on a Friday. This weekend i'm finally going to make it to the Parade of Homes with Erin, so we can go to giant gorgeous houses and pretend like we live there, then go to tiny condos that we may actually be able to afford one day. And I have Monday and Tuesday off before I start my new job in Cary on Tuesday! I might be going to Winston with Sara sometime before next Wednesday, too. I'm looking forward to going since I haven't been there since May, so we'll see what happens:)

Almost the end

Today is my last full day at work! I am pretty thrilled about this right now:) Its funny--I always complain about boredom and the lack of steady work to keep me busy, but then when they do ask me to do things (particularly things that require me to leave my desk), I feel bitter and put out, haha. I'm just strange.

Went to lunch at a really cute outdoor garden center/giftshop/outdoor cafe today. I had chicken salad with pineapple and almonds in it, which was absolutely delicious. I desperately want to nap because i'm so full--hopefully i'll recover in the 1.5 hours before I leave work.

I'm also still waiting around for the phone call about the job that I really want in Raleigh. Supposedly they'll call me today or tomorrow. If I get an offer before next week when I start my less desirable job, then I can quit before I start, haha! But alas, whats meant to be will be. Tomorrow is the state fair yipeee! Also, today's is Kristin's 24th B-day! Yay!

very good days

Yesterday I found out that I get to go to Atlanta week after next for an in person interview after 2 rounds of phone interviews! Yay! I never expected to make it even to the second round, so I'm pretty thrilled that they called and I made it to the final round of interviews. The prospect of moving to Atlanta and doing all of the travel that the job would require scares me a little bit, but it would be an amazing opportunity. Other good things: my current food coma after the pot luck lunch at my office, Britney Spears is going on tour again next year!, my interview this afternoon and, of course, the fair is on Friday (i'm obsessed).

Not so good things: said goodbye to Julie yesterday for the next two years. It wasn't as emotional as I expected--mostly because I wouldn't let myself get ridiculous, but its still sad and exciting at the same time. I'm very proud of her. Also, the fact that I have to spend the next hour or so at work studying finance and the economy for my interview this afternoon. Boo. And, i've heard at least 4 Obama radio commercials today already. I will be so thrilled when this election is finally over. I think i'm going to vote early this weekend!
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Because the blog looks boring, here are pictures of a few places other than Raleigh where I'd like to be right now:

Fair countdown begins!

Today is my last Monday at my current job. As much as I complain about boredom or being ready to move on, I am really going to miss this office. I love the people I work with and do enjoy the work. But, its definitely time for a change--and i'm excited that this is my last week! Should go by quickly.
This weekend was nice. Friday I spent the night with Sara. We went out for dinner, came back and ate loads of funfetti cake while we watched the Sex and the City movie. Pretty fabulous evening. Saturday I went into a cleaning frenzy after I got back home. I went to dinner with the whole fam for my cousin's birthday on Saturday night--I had an amazing crab burger. So good. But unfortunately I got an awful headache on the way home and couldn't get rid of it all night. So, I missed Acree's birthday party, which I was really looking forward to:( Oh, well. We'll just have to plan another night to go out and have fun since I missed out this time. Yesterday I did absolutely nothing. I didn't leave the house all day--just watched tv and read my new book. I love relaxing days like that.
Of course, today it was back to work, but there's lots to look forward to this week. Last week at the office. Seeing Julie one last time before she leaves. Pot luck lunch at work on Wednesday with lots of yummy homemade food (i'm making my world famous chocolate chip pound cake). And most importantly--the STATE FAIR on Friday!! I don't care how greasy/dusty/crowded the fair might be, I look forward to it every year and I know it'll be just as amazing as it always is. So excited.

To do this week:
1. Mail K's birthday box (boo Columbus Day and the closed post office).
2. Grocery store for cake supplies.
3. Bake cake for Wednesday.
4. Mall to buy advance fair tickets.
5. Yet another interview on Wednesday (yay!).

reunited, and it feels so good.

I finally made a hotel reservation and ordered my homecoming football tickets this morning! I'm really looking forward to going back to Wake for the weekend and seeing a few friends and the football game. In a way, i'm also dreading it a little because I haven't been back to Winston since graduation. I know its going to feel strange when I finally do go back--everyone else's lives (who are younger) have been going on just like normal there, and I really don't belong anymore. Alas..getting older is a pain. But it should be fun and i'm excited that its less than a month away. Plus, I have another reunion planned for the weekend before Thanksgiving with even more friends there. Still need hotel for that weekend...one step at a time! Lots to look forward to.

Thank goodness I managed to get through my phone interview yesterday without losing my voice or coughing up a lung. And my voice is semi-back to normal today so I can finally talk on the phone again! I think the interview went well--the next step would be for them to fly me to Atlanta for a face to face--exciting! I need to go by Border's today or tomorrow to pick up a couple of things. I want to get Julie a going away present, but i'm not sure what to buy. I figure a book is good and not too big so she can carry it overseas with her. I also want to buy Clinton Kelly's (from What Not To Wear) new book Freakin Fabulous. He's going to be at a cocktail benefit in Raleigh in a couple weeks, and I'm on the verge of buying tickets just to meet him. I adore him on the show and think that we could be best friends haha. But thinking of what to wear to the party is very intimidating!

edit: GO DEACS tonight!! Beat Clemson!

good tuesday

Yesterday my interview went reeeally well. At least, I think it did. Let's hope so! Its the first job i've interviewed for in a while that I really want. Badly. So fingers crossed everyone! Today I finally talked with someone from the bank I interviewed with in Richmond, and she offered me the job, which I turned down. Its really a shame because I think I could've gotten used to moving up there, and I actually enjoyed the bank atmosphere and all the people I met. The salary just wasn't really enough to justify the move to live alone in a new city--very expensive. Alas...another right choice, I think. Let's just hope someone else comes through for me this week!

Life is good. My bff is back in town for a mere two weeks before leaving for overseas for the next two years. I already had to say goodbye to her for 3 months for her training, but this is obviously going to be even worse. We're not best friends in the sense that we spend every moment together--we never have been. But she has been there for me since middle school, whenever I wanted to pick up the phone or sing random Broadway songs, whatever. I'm used to going periods of time without seeing her, but just the fact that I know I can't for the next two years is rough. Not looking forward to the permanent goodbye, but hopefully we'll be having dinner tonight which I'm excited about. Otherwise, i'm trying to be positive and happy about all the crazy job stuff thats going on in my life. I'm really looking forward to getting something--almost anything--at this point just to have some stability and something to look forward to. This weekend i'm having another lovely sleepover with SCD and then a belated family birthday celebration on Saturday night and yet another birthday party to attend. Hopefully i'll be germ-free by then.

the blog is back!

I'm finally back from my fabulous vacation, so I thought i'd update all of my very eager and numerous (hah) readers about my life for the past 10 or so days!

Friday night before I left I had a great birthday dinner with friends from Wake and from Raleigh. We had a nice time even though the band was cancelled, and its always good to see friends--we need to start doing it more often. Saturday morning we got up early and hit the road for New Jersey (eww). We made a couple of stops along the way and finally got to the hotel about 45 mins from NYC around early evening. The next morning, we got up and drove into the city. It didn't take very long, and I actually managed to get my family to Central Park and Times Square without using the GPS! I didn't know I had that much directional knowledge in me (and I know Kristin will be proud)! We finally parked at the pier, got on the ship and immedaitely began eating (the overall theme of the week). Sunday night and Monday were at sea, so we mostly just continued eating, went to the casino a little, played trivia and shopped on board the ship. Luckily we managed to completely avoid the hurricane. The radar looked like it was going to hit us really hard (first hurricane in the Maine/Canada region in 17 years...what are the odds?), but I guess there wasn't enough warm water to sustain it, and we really didn't have any bad weather at all thank goodness!

Tuesday we docked in Halifax, Nova Scotia and walked around the town for the morning. We went to the Titanic museum there and saw lots of cool things from the ship and other shipwrecks. Halifax was a much bigger city than I expected. Lots of big downtown buildings and pretty waterfront condos. We did a little shopping and then went back to the ship, of course, to eat. Wednesday we went to St. John, New Brunswick in Canada. This was a more typical coastal Canada town. Lots of ship building and pretty gingerbread style houses in different colors. We took a tour bus around town and to the Bay of Fundy--a place where two waters (the north Atlantic and something else) meet, and the water actually changes directions right there. That was pretty interesting, and the town was really pretty. Almost enough to want to live there, if there wasn't 10 ft of snow in the winter:)

Thursday we got back to the US and went into Boston for the day. I sadly didn't get a chance to meet up with Em because of having to go through customs on the ship that morning, but she did give me excellent T directions to the JFK museum. We spent most of the morning at the beautiful museum by the harbor. Then we went back into the city and toured around the Freedom Trail and other places in downtown Boston. Friday morning we got to Martha's Vineyard a little late. The water isn't deep enough there for the ship to dock right by the shore, so we had to take smaller tender boats to land. This was probably the most eventful part of the trip--the water was so choppy that the waves actually went all the way over the top of the little enclosed boat! Thank goodness I didn't get seasick! We finally made it to shore, and took a bus tour of the island. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but Martha's Vineyard was not exactly what I had pictured. It actually reminded me a lot of Beaufort near the good old Emerald Isle, NC. It was nice, and I enjoyed walking around the little shops by the harbor to see the beautiful sailboats, but I guess its the type of place you have to grow up around to really appreciate it enough to pay millions for real estate there. It definitely seemed more like a status thing (obviously) than the fact that the island was just so spectacular. But it was nice and I enjoyed the day there. I enjoyed it even more once we finally got back to the ship on a bigger ferry boat (the wind was up to 50 knots so that small boats were'nt even allowed out by the afternoon eek!). Saturday we docked back in NYC and finally made it back home to NC by 7ish that night.

Overall the week was fantastic. I really enjoyed getting away for a little while, not hearing about the election and turning my cell phone off for a few days. I would have liked a couple more days of sleep, but alas:) I'm unfortunately a little sick right now--my sinuses started going crazy by the end of the trip, but hopefully i'll be back to normal soon. I've got an interview in person for the job I reeeeally want this afternoon(!), so let's hope I don't sneeze all over the person--and wish me luck!

Other news on the job front: I ended up accepting an offer from the crappy job I wrote about a few weeks ago. It really pained me to do it, but I bascially thinking of it as another temporary job, and will definitely keep looking in the meantime. Hopefully something will happen--fingers crossed--before I have to start there in a couple weeks, and I can quit before I even start haha! I just felt like I couldn't turn it down with the way the financial market it right now. I've got the interview today, and then another really great 2nd round phone interview for a job in Atlanta on Wednesday. I could use all the luck I can get! Whew, long post...hopefully i'll get a few pictures up soon!

good times, for the most part

My birthday had a great finish yesterday. I got to leave my desk about an hour early to go to a retirement party, where I ate way too many party finger foods, but it was really yummy:) Then I picked up Mom and we went to Crabtree to pick out something for my bday before dinner. I was trying to decide between some adorable Coach tennis shoes and new rainbows--turns out they didn't have my size in the Coach, and they DON'T MAKE my favorite kinds of rainbows anymore!! Grr. The guy told me you can definitely still find them online, so my goal for today is to peruse the internet until I find them--and then i'll hoard as many pairs as possible! Hopefully i'll be successfull. Then we met my dad for dinner at McCormick and Schmick's--so delicious & really pretty interior/nice atmosphere. I had Alaskan salmon stuffed with a mixture of crab, shrimp and brie. I'm pretty much drooling right now just thinking about it. Afterwards my dad gave me a bunch of Wake Forest stuff (coffee mug, mouse pad, etc) for my "new office", whenever I finally get one. And I got lots of calls from my fabulous friends which I didn't have time to return, but hopefully will today:) Excellent day overall--and I can't wait for Friday to celebrate out with friends in Raleigh. I just wish everyone could make it, even though we're all spread out!

I just got back from an interview this morning with a bank in Cary, and I'm thoroughly disappointed. I actually had pretty high hopes for this one, and then I get there and they say "oh you'll be sitting out at the front desk answering 1000 calls per day". Great. NOT. I don't mean to be a snob or anything like that, but I didn't bust my butt for the past 4 years at a top 20 b-school to asnwer phones all day, thank you very much. Whatever...its just very frustrating. I'm sick of interviewing and ready to get a job--but i'm definitely not going to settle for just anything. I also got a message from the Richmond bank I interviewed with last week. I'm almost afraid to return the call, because if they offer me a job, thats going to throw me & my plans for a loop, but i'll give her a call this afternoon to see what she has to say. If I get an offer, i'm definitely not taking it on the spot--I have too many other irons in the fire right now that would be preferable for me. Sigh. The process is never ending.

But, I am determined today will be a good/non-stressful day! I've got a doctor's appt this afternoon, so i'm leaving work early, then i'm having dinner out with Sara. Tomorrow is a half day at the office, then going home, hopefully getting a haircut, packing for vacation(!) and going out with the girls tomorrow night as a belated bday celebration! All of these things are fabulous. Life is good.

Oh, life.

The theme of my life lately has been 1. get a good job interview (yay!), 2. interview goes well--hopefully i'll get this one (yay!), 3. immediately get a call from another potentially better employer to schedule another interview 4. hope to God that the first people don't call for a while so I have time to work my options with the new potential job, 5. repeat, often.

And as usual, the past 2 days are no different. Last week I had a phone interview for a job i'd love to have in Raleigh. I'm giving the lady until tomorrow, then i'm going to call her back and harrass her to give me an in-person interview so that she cannot resist my charms and has to hire me immediately. But, of course, yesterday afternoon I get another call i'd really been waiting for about a job in Atlanta. The location wouldn't be my first choice, but I really do like Atlanta, plus I'd get to do a lot of traveling (in Miami, yes please). So, if this actually worked out, I'd be a fool not to accept. It has dream job potential. If this wasn't enough, today I get yet another call for a job with my bank here in Raleigh for an interview on Thursday. Sigh. Not that this is surprising at all--at this point I basically expect the unexpected. Its kind of like a mixture of dread and excitement every time I check my voicemail. Hah. But I must say, I definitely prefer too many calls to none at all.

So, this week has already had a great start. The work days have been flying by, I won a really weird vibrating mascara online from a fashion blog yesterday (more on that once I get it in the mail...), I got some fabulous b-day cards in the mail yesterday, I have dinner plans for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, RED VELVET CAKE tonight!, i'm leaving on my family vacation New England cruise in 4 days, and the week still has LOTS of potential.

yummy

I'm currently eating a rice krispie treat at my desk and i'm reeeally enjoying it:) I don't think i've had one of these since 9th grade. Nothing much new to report on. Last night I went home, helped make dinner, watched many episodes of Jon & Kate Plus 8 (I don't really like to admit this), and then went to bed. I mostly enjoy low key nights during the week, because I have to get up so early to come to work. Today has been passing by quickly which is always nice. Tomorrow i'll be at the office for a whole day (boo) because I was out on Monday, but I think my co-workers are taking me out for an early b-day lunch! Should be exciting..I just have to figure out where I want to go. This afternoon i've got a phone interview for a bank job here in Raleigh (obviously a first choice, if I don't have to move, so fingers crossed!). Hopefully it'll go well and something will happen soon!

Currently drooling over this: Christie's fall jewelry auction (The New York Sale). So gorgeous!