I have my first interview in 45 minutes. (8:00 AM) I'm dressed in a fabulous skirt suit, and I listened to jazz on my way to work. My hubby told me I look "beautiful" about three times this morning. I'm ready to go!
I'll let you know how it goes after I get back.. prayers (or thoughts) are much appreciated.
Happy Monday!
Edit at 10:00 AM -
Just wanted to thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. :) The interview went very well! Some concerns I had were answered, and Dr. V. gave me a very thorough description of her practice, her standards, and what the job would entail. It's an admin. position at a cosmetic dentistry, which is only a mile away from my current office! (I'd also be trained as a dental assistant if I got the position) I think she liked me, though, so we'll just see what happens. I know I could do the job, and would enjoy it.. it's just a matter of whether it's the right one for me. We shall see!
Ryan and I had a great weekend. :) I worked out on Saturday morning while Ryan changed the oil in my car, and had it cleaned and washed. I can't remember the last time my car looked this nice! After we got cleaned up, we went and toured a couple of amazing model homes. The second one was nearly 10,000 square feet.. and for the first time ever, Ryan said he thinks it was TOO MUCH space! "I didn't think I'd ever say that," he confessed. 4 floors of expansive space is just a little.. much. Unless we had 8 kids or something, which isn't happening!
Afterwards, we went out to eat at the Original Steakhouse.. a nice local restaurant. True to their word, they have AMAZING steaks! Ryan had the NY strip, and I had the filet mignon. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it! (I haven't had breakfast yet) We don't eat out all that often, so it was very nice. :)
After church on Sunday, we spent the remainder of the day with my parents, who had just gotten back from their vacation in Cancun on Saturday night! We were able to see all of their gorgeous pictures, and hear about the trip. I'm used to talking with my Mom pretty much every day, so it was hard going a whole week without being able to pick up the phone and call her!
Well, I think I'm going to head to Starbucks. :) I remembered everything this morning except breakfast, so I'm starving. Hope you all have a great day!!
** Edit @ 9:15 AM - Oh my gosh. I just received news that my friend Sarah, who was due in November, had her little baby girl (1 lb. 4 oz.) delivered via emergency c-section yesterday. Sarah has preeclampsia, (high blood pressure) and she is feeling better, but her blood pressure is still very high. She was only able to see her baby girl, Sydney Louise, for about a minute yesterday! Please, please pray for Sarah, her husband Keith, and their little girl, Sydney Louise.
I opened up our medicine/vitamin/various nutritional stuff cabinet this morning, and didn't see my prescription to re-order my birth control, which I keep up there. "Um, honey?" I asked, "please tell me you didn't throw away my prescriptions." Seriously, every single prescription that used to be stored there was suddenly missing. "I thought those were all of my prescriptions," he told me. "Only one was yours.. the others had my name on them," I told him. My husband is a member of the clutter patrol.. even though things are organized, he has this incessant urge to throw things away. It comes in spurts, though, and it usually only involves my stuff.
So, I have to call my Dr. this morning, get a new prescription faxed to me, and hopefully get it filled after work. I'm supposed to start a new pack tomorrow. We're not quite ready to have a little Emily or Ryan running around just yet, so it's kind of important.
Well, I got my first new-job-related call yesterday around 10 AM or so, but I had to wait until my lunch break to give her a call back. The Dr. herself had called me, and even left her HOME NUMBER in case I needed to call after 5. In any event, we talked and talked and talked, and set up an interview for Monday at 8 AM. I wasn't really expecting her to still be interested after we talked, for two reasons. One, she balked a little at my salary requirements. I'm just not going to take a new job making less that I do currently. Sorry. I'm really not being unreasonable. Secondly, she wasn't too thrilled about the fact that she'd have a month lag between the time her current admin. leaves the position and the day I could take over. There again, I can't help that. If I leave this job any earlier, I won't get my severance pay. (and HELLO, that's a ton of money.) She still wants to interview, so I guess she still has an interest in me. I'd enjoy this job, so I'm hoping it goes well. Now the real question... what am I going to wear?
Last night was pretty nice. I brought my work out clothes with me, and headed straight to the gym immediately after work. I knew if I went home, I'd try and talk myself out of going. :) I had a great work out, though, and I was really glad that I went. I got a surprise once I got home, too: Ryan was already home! :) It was so nice being able to spend more time with him than usual.
Well, we made it to Friday! Hope you all have a great day, and a wonderful weekend!
** Edit at 10:15 AM : I faxed out my resume to 4 places yesterday, and I just received my first call!!! Oh, and the background song doesn't seem to want to play, so I'll mess with that later.. sorry.. but I JUST RECEIVED MY FIRST CALL!!
I'm not really in a writing mood today, for whatever reason. (when's the last time I hadn't updated by 10 AM?!) I've had my playlist going this morning, and this song, which is now my background song, started to play. It was the song we used for our photo montage at our wedding, which played right before we were introduced at the reception for the first time as Mr. & Mrs.
I adore this song. It's by Seal. Back when I first had the idea that I wanted to make a photo montage for the reception, this is the song that we just had to use for it. If I had the actual photo montage (which I made with powerpoint) here on this computer, I'd upload it for you all to see, but I don't. Sooo, I'm going to post some of the pictures that we put in the montage, which were taken while we were dating.
I'm watching the Loudoun Times Mirror online like a hawk.. they should be posting their employment classifieds online sometime today. Monster.com is worthless when you want a really local job that isn't being posted by a temp agency. I faxed my resume to one company on Monday, but haven't heard from them. They could've filled that spot already, unfortunately. Then I become paranoid and start having thoughts like, "maybe they just didn't want me." Dumb, I know.
I've found that I've become decidedly picky in the 4 1/2 years since I last went through this process. I don't mean that in a snobby way at all, I just want to find something that I will enjoy, not just something that will pay the bills. I have a better idea of what I'd like this time around. Now it's just a matter of finding it.
On a totally random note... Last week, for the very first time, I happened to notice this as I was walking by:
That's me on the wall in the marketing office. (Obviously, I blurred the company name. I may be leaving here on Sept. 6th, but still. :) Knowing that posters exactly like that one are all over the US at a bazillion of our merchants' locations was a rather strange thought, yet seeing it posted in our very office is even stranger to me for some reason. And I don't even really like that picture.
That's a snippet of a flyer that was sent all over Texas. (have you seen it, Amanda? :) I got to buy that outfit with the company's money. My Mom took one and pasted it in my scrapbook.. how cute is that?? It's funny, but I always wanted to model someday.. and I didn't even have to lose a single pound to do it!
I've definitely made some memories here. I've been getting all nostalgic lately, and I still have a little over a month left here to go.
Well, I s'pose I should get back to it. Hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday!
A few of you have asked to hear about our proposal story... so, I dug up my old xanga archives, and am posting it just for you. :)
"And Now, the Rest of the Story"
The realization hit me that I don't have a boyfriend anymore...I have a fiance!
Saturday-
We drove to a local dog rescue on Saturday morning, and spent three hours there looking at the available dogs, and spending time with several that we were interested in. This place was huge! They had trails to take the dogs on, and fenced-in play areas. We just weren't 100% liking any of the four dogs we had put on our list. Then a volunteer walks by with a dog we didn't see while we were touring the facility. Apparently this dog had just been spayed the day before, so she was in the 'quarantine' area, away from visitors. We fell in love. :-) She's such a sweet little dog. We submitted an adoption application, and should hear back from them either today or tomorrow. I really hope we get her!
(**Update** We did end up getting her, and she was a terror. We wound up taking her back.) The Proposal-
After we got cleaned up, and had rested a bit, Ryan took me out driving on Saturday evening. We went through downtown Leesburg, past the place we saw fireworks, past Morven park, and onto Old Waterford road. It's long, windy, and not to mention gravel! He had been up here on Friday at one of his clients' job sites, so he's pointing out huge, new homes that are being built. It may be in the middle of nowhere, but these are some of the nicest houses you've ever seen! He took me down several side roads, then drove me to the top of Old Waterford, (past a little, old house on the left with an older man sitting on the front porch in his rocking chair) and pulled over in an empty clearing with a gorgeous view of Sugarloaf mountain, and surrounding fields and farms. He told me how he saw this Friday, and thought it was beautiful.
We saw a "for sale" sign when we pulled over, and were curious to see what was for sale, so we drove down to the end of the road. As we made our way back up, Ryan backed into a big, open field, and told me that he thought there was a creek behind the trees, and asked if I wanted to go see. So we walked down the tree line, and came to a clearing. There wasn't a creek, but behind the trees the sun was shining down over a lush, light green meadow, with bushes of wild berries. We were standing under these large, old trees. There was a light breeze, and it was so quiet that all you could hear were the birds. It was perfect.
He starts telling me how he had been thinking about how he was nearly married two years ago, and how he's so thankful that things happened the way they did. He tells me all kinds of sweet, romantic things, and I start to cry a little. He tells me that there's no reason to cry, and asks, "can I ask you to do something for me?" I gave him a funny look, and asked what. Then he gets down on one knee, and I lose it. He then asks me to marry him. It was absolutely perfect! Needless to say, it was all-around the best weekend, ever. I'm so excited, and so, so happy. Posted 7/25/2005 at 8:49 AM
A year ago yesterday, Ryan had proposed to me. Now, here we are, a year later.. and we've already been married for 7 1/2 months! As a way to celebrate, we decided to drive back out yesterday to the place where he had proposed. :) We hadn't driven back there since, and I was looking forward to getting pictures of everything that I've only had mental pictures of from that day. The drive was so nice and relaxing.. we drove with the windows down, and the weather was beautiful! I've got to say, though, it looked a lot different! Someone bought the field where he had proposed, and a house is being built there. Thankfully, the tree he proposed beneath is still there.
The road we took to get there.. isn't it pretty?
Our tree (on the left) that Ryan proposed beneath..
There are 15 pictures, total, and more of the story, on that page. :) Afterwards, we stopped by an old-fashioned ice cream parlor, which did, in fact, make me sick, but ohhhh, was it worth it!
The rest of our weekend was very nice. We drove up to PA after work on Friday, and had a nice time at the wedding on Saturday. Of course, I remembered to bring my camera, but I left it in my suitcase! It wasn't a very traditional wedding, but most second marriages don't seem to be as traditional anyway. Everyone seemed to have a lot of fun, though, and it was more of a celebration than anything. Isn't that what counts? :) Plus, my Mother-in-law made the cake.. and can I say that it was delicious?? Yum!
Grandma S. collects dolls, and has collected them for years and years.. she has, oh, about a hundred of them or so. She has decided that she wants to start selling them, surprisingly, and I offered to eBay them if she'd like me to. :) In any event, she offered to let me pick one out, which really blew me away. The one I picked is just lovely, though, and I hope that Ryan and I someday have a daughter that I can pass it down to..
Well, today marks the day when I start sending out my resume! If you think of it, please pray for my job search, and that God will show me where He wants me to be come mid-September! I'm trusting that He will show me where I need to be, as He did with this job. :) He is absolutely faithful!
Hope you all had a fantastic weekend, and I hope that you all have a great day! :)
I am extremely happy to announce that, although disposable cameras are pretty worthless, I am SO GLAD we had it with us when my digital camera decided to die while we were on our boating trip in Cabo! Although not the greatest quality, we got some irreplaceable shots!
Well, we made it to Friday! :) Ryan and I are heading off to northeastern PA after work today, where we'll be attending his Uncle Tom's wedding tomorrow afternoon.
Uncle Tom and I swing dancing to "Let's Fall in Love" by Frank Sinatra!
Incidentally, he's marrying the lady in pink. I kid you not!
Hope you all have a wonderful Friday and a fantastic weekend!
Today is my Mother-in-law's birthday, so I just wanted to take a moment to wish her a very Happy Birthday! I hope that you have a wonderful, blessed day today, and Ryan and I look forward to seeing you this coming weekend!
Ryan and I had a pretty nice evening last night. My parents leave for Cancun (!!!) on Saturday, so we spent a good part of the evening over at their house, since we won't be here to see them off. We may be house-sitting for them while they're gone, though, since their sunroom/deck is going to be started on Tuesday! It's something that they've wanted for a long time, and it's going to be gorgeous! My Mom has already ordered all the furniture and accessories for the sunroom, and most of it is taking up space in their living room. :) I've got to say, though, my Mom has great taste.
I was able to work out over at my parents' house before dinner; they've got an awesome, new recumbent bike that I spent 40 minutes on. That makes three days in row that I've worked out this week. Not too bad! I've got some running around to do tonight, so I may not have time for a full work out... but I'll probably take Tucker for a nice, long walk after it has cooled down outside, and maybe do abs/leg work once I get home.
Funny Tucker story: After we got home last night, I had to hop in the shower. If I'm in the bathroom, Tucker HAS to be in there with me, or he'll scratch and whine at the door. (he's a slight momma's boy) So, I'm in the shower, and Tucker is going CRAZY, barking at me in the shower, and peeking in. After I finished washing off, I decided I'd had enough of him, and pulled him into our huuuge shower, thinking he'd hate it, and leave me alone. Ummm, the result was quite the opposite. He was excitedly licking non-stop at the water coming down for the shower head, getting soaked to the bone. He LOVED it. So much for that. Silly pug.
I should also mention that I FINALLY dropped off our waterproof disposable camera to develop the pics from our boat trip in Cabo... and I pick them up TONIGHT! I made sure to get them on CD, too, so hopefully I'll be able to share those tomorrow!!! I'm crossing my fingers that the whale pics turned out..
I'm kinda dragging this morning. :) I'm not sure why, really.. got about 7 hours of sleep, which is pretty typical lately. The hubby and I were getting ready this morning, and he looks over at me, and says, "You really look tired.. you look like you could fall asleep any minute." Great way to start the morning, isn't it? :)
Ah well, I'm thrilled it's Wednesday already! I've been so busy at work this week, with 4 accounting people visiting from the San Francisco office, that it really has just flown by!
I did manage to meet my goal, and get my resume updated before today. :) I worked on it last night while Ryan was at physical therapy. I thought I'd just need to add my current job to it, and it'd be done, but... I ended up completely making it over. I had to edit some things out, because I really doubt the next company I end up joining will be interested in the fact that I belonged to my college's equestrian team, or that I was Volunteer of the Year in '97. Now I just need to have my Mom look it over first before I start sending it out, because she is the Resume QUEEN!
I don't believe I mentioned the fact that Ryan and I went and got hair cuts together on Saturday. He hates when his hair gets long, because you can tell that it's curly. :) I love when it's curly, but he's the one who has to deal with it. Meanwhile, I was losing my battle with the split ends, and NEEDED a trim. I asked the lady to take off an inch, and... well, by the time she had finished, she had taken about 3.
Before (July 4th)
After (taken this morning)
I actually really like it! It was hard to get my long, long hair to look "polished," but now I'm liking it. It's still considered long, but not as long. I'm also doing the side part now rather than my usual messy part, and I'm liking it for now.
Apparently, there's a trend with women where we'll supposedly get our hair drastically cut before or after a significant change in our life. (like, say, getting married, or after a bad break-up, etc) I bucked this trend, and actually let my hair get significantly longer after we got married. But then I thought back, and I've actually done that before. Before I went off to college, I got about 6 inches cut off!! What about you all? Ever contributed to the trend, or no?
After all the hype, I really didn't think the weather was that intolerable yesterday. Sure, I wouldn't have liked to spend the entire day outside or anything, but it really wasn't that bad. The heat just really doesn't bother me all that much. You know, I used to be a self-proclaimed summer girl. With each changing season, I used to always proclaim, "THIS is my favorite season," but then along would come a new season, and I'd change my mind. "No, THIS is my favorite season." I think I've come to the conclusion that I like them all pretty equally.
That's another reason I love Virginia so much: you get to experience all four seasons without extremes. Further north, winter would be a bit more extreme. Further south, the heat in the summertime would be more extreme. Here, we get four equal seasons, beautiful fall color, at least a couple good snow falls, a lovely spring, and a warm, but not too warm, summer.
About 5 years ago, I couldn't wait to move out of Virginia. I grew up here, and it's the only state I've ever lived in. When you're younger, that's just not very fun or exciting. I was aching for a change of pace, a change of scenery, just something different. Now? I like the familiarity. I love that my family is here. I think about what I'd miss if I moved away, and I don't think I'd like that anymore. Granted, if Ryan was relocated for some reason, I'd deal with it, but if I have a choice in the matter, I don't think I want to leave.
On an unrelated note, I sometimes wonder how my life may be different if I had never chosen to start up an online journal. I know that probably sounds silly, but I've been thinking about it this morning. The first time I heard about Xanga, I thought it seemed so trendy... yet interesting. The only people who ever visited, at first, were friends I knew "in real life," and it was just a little writing outlet. But NOW, my goodness, I've met so many amazing people through this little journal. Whether you meet at Starbucks, at work, or online, people are people. Everyone has a story. I've met so many people that are like me, and many that are practically the complete opposite! And I love that. I'm thankful for everyone that I know because of this journal. Just wanted you to know that.
Of course, you can't have all pros and no cons. For instance, I can't just blurt out whatever comes to mind anymore, because I know that roughly 100 people read this thing every single day. (That's one reason why I thought to ask first before posting on a certain topic a week ago or so. (which, yes, I'm currently working on)) I don't mind thinking about things before I post them.. it's just how it is now. Actually, I think it's probably a good thing that I think about what I post, because it's as beneficial as thinking before you speak. At times, I've wished I had thought before I spoke, but the words were already out there. At least on here, there's always that Delete button.
So, I'm curious.. if you all could live in any US state, would you rather stay where you are, or move elsewhere? Why or why not? Also, (if you aren't a protected poster) do you think twice about what you write? Why or why not?
Good morning, good morning! Going to be a steamy one today, folks... 98 degree high that will feel like 105! I was listening to the forecast this morning, and they said the air will be considered "unhealthful" today and tomorrow. Unhealthy air. Nice.
So, if anyone wanted to know how our first week of the5 AM Challenge went last week, here are the results! We worked out 4 days in a row.. Mon-Thurs, then took Friday and Saturday off. Honestly, I think the first week was the hardest part, because this morning I was actually really looking forward to going! Ryan has the symptoms of a sinus infection in the making, so he didn't go with me. He's taking his isotonix, and has been kinda taking it easy since Saturday, so hopefully it doesn't get any worse. So, for the first time since the start of the challenge, I went alone this morning.
In any event, I know I've lost some weight. I haven't weighed myself since I was 18, (long story, but it's for the best!) so I'm not sure how much I've lost. Remember when my Dr. told me I had lost 10 pounds since my appointment 5 days before the wedding? Well, I got the urge to try on my wedding dress yesterday.. first time since the wedding. It was definitely much looser! I was even able to get into it all by myself. (it took the help of 3 bridesmaids on my wedding day!) The waist area was baggy, and the top was sliding down.. and I didn't even have my bustier on underneath that I wore during the wedding.
In any event, I made it down the stairs without tripping, and showed Ryan. I figured he'd roll his eyes at the fact that I wanted to try it on, but he just smiled when he saw me and said that I looked beautiful. My gosh, I'm lucky he's mine.
I'm the not the only one in my family losing weight! My brother told me yesterday that he has lost 12 pounds! He said, "I'm turning into you! I was at the gym for 2 1/2 hours last night." However, I don't think I've ever been at the gym for longer than, oh, 2 hours or so, so he's gone above and beyond what I've ever done! He's taking full advantage of the gym at his condo complex, and eating better than he used to.
Well, going to be a busy-busy day today. Two people from the PBT West accounting department will be in the office today. They're going to be sitting down with each of us and looking over what we do each day. You'd think they would've liked to know that before they decided to get rid of us, wouldn't you? But I digress. Did I mention I got a new PBT t-shirt, even though I won't be here after Sept. 6th? What can I say? I can't turn down free t-shirts. It's a kid's size large, but it shrunk up nicely in the wash, and I actually like it better than the normal t-shirts!
Happy Monday! Hope you all have a great, quick, wonderful day. And if you're going to be outside today, remember not to breathe in. It's "unhealthful," you know.
It'd be safe to say that I am barely functional this morning. We had a meeting out in Beltsville, Maryland last night at 7:30, so we didn't get home till pretty late, and were up at our normal 5:50. Thank God it's Friday, AND it's pay day! (insert huge sigh of relief here)
With that in mind, let it be known that right about now, I'd rather be here:
That's me on the wall in the marketing office. (Obviously, I blurred the company name. I may be leaving here on Sept. 6th, but still. :) Knowing that posters exactly like that one are all over the US at a bazillion of our merchants' locations was a rather strange thought, yet seeing it posted in our very office is even stranger to me for some reason. And I don't even really like that picture. 
