Feeling a moment

One of my favorite times of the day is when I sit next to the open window (the weather is turning to fall here, though sometimes it still feels a bit like a Washington summer!) and enjoy my breakfast, coffee, and a few words from a book or a magazine. Usually Mater ends up taking a nap next to me or on my lap, and this always warms my heart, as she has become increasingly diabolical in her chewing and playing at other times of the day! Anyway, this time is the rare time in the day when I haven't yet tried to "figure out" what I "have to do", and when the fresh air helps me wake up and reminds me to live in each minute as it comes. After several months of worrying about finding a job or getting our budget "right", I find I am enjoying my idle time and my daily tasks more and more. That being said, I look forward to hearing back soon about a potential job!

Last week, I started training for a half-marathon; I felt it was high time I take on another race as a goal, and have wanted to try 13.1 since last November when I ran my first 15k (=9.3 mi) in the Chicago Hot Chocolate Run. Unfortunately, I am prone to injury, whether simply due to my anatomical make-up or as a function of my sometimes hard-headedness when it comes to moderation in "amping up" frequency and distance in training/running. Either way, this morning I am resting a tweaked hamstring after trying out a new stretch/strength circuit yesterday: I believe the culprit was actually the very first exercise, the jumping heel-kicks. Fun, but as my mom pointed out to me last night on the phone, perhaps a bit challenging at first for a person of my level of coordination. (Read = In her ballerina mind, I am a bit of a "spazz" when it comes to such things...especially when trying them for the first time!) So I am trying to not worry and to focus on icing and elevating/resting it today. The half-marathons I am considering are in January and March, and while my goal is January, I know that I need to be open to either date due to things like my current predicament!

Enough about running and racing. Last weekend, we met up with three couples at a local Oktoberfest on the base. While much of the activities were geared towards kids, it was a great atmosphere and several of the "German food" booths were actually staffed by native Germans. My goddaughter and her brother had a fun time (although Joshua was playing a video game most of the time!) and it is always so good to see Jasmine, since she is growing up so fast! She's walking now, and all the boys seem to like her even at one year and change... Jon is already making playful threats...to two year olds. Ha. My guess is, in about twelve years they won't be quite as playful :-) We spend a lot of time watching the bands they had playing, who were both pretty fun. I don't think they were particularly impressed by the crowd's distractedness, since Oktoberfest in Deutschland is certainly known for its boistrous enthusiasm for toasts and drinking songs. There were so many kids around everyone couldn't really focus like they would have needed to pick up on this. Either way, we had a great time, and topped it off with a hay ride around the campgrounds.

Some photos:

In the tent where the bands were, with Margie, Katie, and Jazz squirming in my lap.


It was cold in the shade!


With our friends the Estradas and Blanchard on the far left. (on the hay ride)


The Pratt's and the Miles' on the hay ride.

Michael has been enjoying his new unit, though he's still worked several long days and was gone for a week in the field. We are looking forward to Thanksgiving and the arrival of more fall weather. We plan to spend Turkey Day with the Pratt's, possibly even making a little getaway of it so that we can cook the turkey and the pies at their house. While it's sometimes hard to get together often, we are indeed blessed by some wonderful friends here in Georgia!

Christmas trees and reevaluation

This morning I am having some random thoughts. Perhaps because the cold I thought I'd fought off has returned in moderate force and I haven't been sleeping well, but either way I'm in the mood to share them :)

It amazes me how early stores stock their Christmas deco. It must have been at least 2 weeks ago (=mid-SEPTEMBER) that Michael and I were looking for a new plant to replace his recently-deceased aloe vera at Wal-Mart. Lo and behold, as we were walking out of the Gardening Center, I looked up and there were no less than five fake Christmas trees on full display! Seriously. It is sad to me that a holiday that was originally meant to celebrate the birth and arrival of a divine Savior has turned into the biggest marketing ploy of each year. Luckily, there are many organizations such as World Vision that are able to truly help people through their programs around this time of year. The simple joy of "giving" a pig or a goat to a needy family in a far-away country in honor of a loved one is really indescribable, though many are yet inexperienced in it. We cannot all travel to those places and help firsthand, but we can all help provide something for someone who needs it far more than we ever will.

Yesterday I had a long conversation with my dad in which I realized that my job search is perhaps becoming temporarily obsolete, given that the holidays are actually approaching. (This does not mean I'm going to go purchase one of those trees, however.) Living so far away from our families, the holidays are a truly special time for Michael and I, and I really don't think I would sacrifice even a few days of that time because of a job. If I had been hired for a job in my actual field, or thought that there was a potential job in it available now, I might consider the alternatives. However, lately I'm contacting people and applying to jobs that are part-time and completely unrelated to my studies. It's true that, on one salary and as we are still in the early stages of marriage and learning how to do finances in a smart manner, it's been up and down. But where do we draw the line between working to live and living to work? In the US it has moved from being a grey area to an increasingly disparate black and white that prioritizes work in order to attain some kind of materialistic status. Having a new car, indulging our every impulse, eating out - all have become "givens", though they need not be. We must learn to see this in our society and almost rebel against it if we wish to prioritize the things that warrant prioritizing.

Thus to say that I am wondering what good it is to apply to many more jobs at this point, since we hope to be gone several weeks only shortly after I would hypothetically be hired. It has been a good experience filling out applications and searching for jobs, and perhaps I will still find a part-time position that will be flexible. But for now, I am going to spend the day cleaning and practicing my piano, because life goes on. I have a roof over my head, an indecently nice car outside, and a wonderful husband who loves and respects me and our life. There are up days and down days, but at the end of them all, we're together finally, and that is good.

TSwizzle, ATL, and Craigslist ads

The first weekend in October was chock-full of fun activities. As I shared before, we'd been anxiously awaiting the Taylor Swift concert, as well as a trip to the zoo and a night away in Atlanta. While these kinds of activities cost way more than they should these days, it was a great getaway and well worth it.

The show was quite amazing; much more like a Broadway show than a concert, complete with sets and people and instruments popping out of the floor at various points (including Usher!). The music was great and the opening band didn't disappoint, either. What a load of screaming girls there were there, though! I think Michael and I agreed we'd never seen to many prematurely made-up, cowboy-boot touting people in one place. That being said, it was definitely a fun experience.

This photo is of her performance of "Back to December". That white piano came up out of the stage...

Earlier in the day before the concert, we enjoyed touring the zoo and seeing many baby animals (giraffe, panda, and kangaroo-in-pouch) as well as some of the "old standbys" (some of those monkeys are older than we are!). The lunch we ate at the food court was much less than great, but in a pinch it got the job done, especially since my plan to bring sandwiches didn't pan out, given the bare fridge and breadbox at our apartment...

The momma and baby panda trundling around part of their outdoor habitat.


The red panda is possibly my favorite zoo animal, though she tends to be asleep at any and all times of day. So little and cute.

The morning after the concert, we headed over to the neighborhood by Piedmont Park for a delicious brunch at the Five Napkin burger joint. It was an amazing banana French toast, including Corn Flakes as part of the batter! After that, we had a nice leisurely walk around the park, which was packed with runners, picnickers, and dog owners. We always love to walk to the gazebo where we got engaged, and this time the pool across the lake from it was full of even more dogs! Apparently the following day, they were cleaning it, so they let owners bring their canines in for a little weekend frolic. Pretty entertaining!


This morning, Michael headed out to the field for a week. He just switched to a new unit (or company, I get all the terms mixed up, all the time!), and has loved it so far. This makes me a very, very happy person, since previously he was really struggling. It's such a shame that the majority of soldiers seem to have such a sub-par experience, because I feel that it would take little to no extra effort for the Army to make it at least bearable across the board. But that would require people to put aside power trips, pointless yelling and/or ranting, and needless punishment of people who didn't actually do anything wrong. Therefore, nothing will change anytime soon... so the best one can hope for is to land in a unit that has their head on straight!

Michael's trips to the field are always interesting for me, because, still without a job, it's really a whole new experience for me to literally have no schedule. In Chicago, it was easy to find things to do, since I could walk, metro, or bus virtually anywhere in town and there was an abundance of great parks and recreation available year-round. Here, it's definitely a different story! The TV is, of course, a constant temptation that I do all I can to avoid sitting in front of for hours on-end. I tend to spend a lot of time cleaning, hanging with the cats, and working out at the gym or outdoors. Until recently, the pool was a constant in my daily routine as well, but the past weeks and a half have seen a much milder weather pattern, even including some refreshing rain showers and temperatures the past few days. Unfortunately, I've gotten so used to the sunny weather that it will probably take me a few spouts like this to get up the snuff to get out and run outside in it! Sad day for a girl raised in the Pacific Northwest!

Yesterday, Michael finally convinced me to get the Craigslist app for my phone, since I haven't even gotten a call back for any of the applications I've submitted or jobs I've pursued. It was really hard when I didn't hear back after the group interview a couple weeks ago, and I think I had somewhat given up without realizing it even though it was only the first "rejection". The thing that is so frustrating (hopefully I'm not turning into a broken record here) is the lack of response if you DON'T get hired/called for a second round of interviews. I just think it's common courtesy, and would probably make a huge impact on job seekers' self-confidence regardless of it being a yes or a no. It just feels as though one isn't even important enough of acknowledgement if they aren't "chosen", and that isn't something that only happens in a job search. It happens all through life in various forms, and to have it hit you in this arena feels pretty dang low. We all know the economy is floundering, but we could all use at least one person to tell us, "You know, you aren't the right person for us right now, but keep looking!" Pipe dreams of compassion seem to let us down a lot.

Anyway, Craigslist. Since yesterday, I've sent nearly 20 emails regarding various receptionist/front desk positions (since there are none actually pertaining to what I've studied and worked on the past 6 years) and have only gotten one answer. That answer was informing me that the ad was apparently for a sort of "middle man" who companies hire when they have had complaints or think their customer service needs improvement. Hmm. Not really a legitimate ad then, is it, lady?? My goodness. And no you may not have all of my personal information so that you can "figure out what site is closest for me and/or best for my personal schedule"! So, so far, not too promising. However, yesterday was a holiday so I won't give up yet and will continue to send out emails as new ads go up. One of the hard things with Craigslist is that people repost ads constantly, so it's hard to tell sometimes if you've already responded to one if it's relatively general. Ugh.

So, the ups and downs continue. For now, it makes me very happy that Michael is so much happier at work, and we're hoping for a quick promotion as soon as he's [finally!] enrolled in some courses to get closer to the points requirement.