Sunday, April 11, 2010

Lesson #16 – Achievement

So …. (drum roll please) …. I got a job!

A legitimate job, a good job. I actually achieved one of my goals and accomplished #2 on my list of New Year’s resolutions! I guess now all I have to do is focus on winning that Oscar…

The day I accepted the job was the day I deleted all the emails I had received from various job boards. I realized that it had been almost exactly a year to the date that I started keeping my eye out for a new position. I will unashamedly blame the economy for that one. Well and looking in two different cities didn’t help.

I am definitely excited and ready to get my life rolling here in Austin. I still think it’s crazy that I live here. But I do live here. For now at least.

Friday, March 26, 2010

Lesson #15 - Goals

Growing up I always hated when teachers made you write out your goals. I have always been a I-just-have-to-wait-and-see-what-happens kind of person. Not necessarily crazy spontaneous, but I was just never sure I could really pick out my “destiny”.

Okay, but goals are good - right? I have always been better with creating short-term goals because those seemed a bit more tangible. More practical. Like pass this exam or find shoes to match the dress I am wearing this weekend. Those goals I can usually achieve and am happy with. It’s the long-term goals that get me. Really, should I want to be a lawyer, doctor, or teacher? Or be married and have five children by the time I am 32? No I don’t want to be a lawyer, doctor, or teacher. Really I am still trying to figure out what I want to be when I “grow up”. And while getting married and having kids would be nice, you just can’t always plan that timing. Besides, at this point it’s a little late for five kids by the time I am 32. Well, unless I have quintuplets.

Ouch.

With all that said, I have decided to narrow down some life goals for me. One short-term and one long-term goal. Just to please the masses*. (*the masses being potential employers and past teachers)

Short-term goal: get a job
Long-term goal: win an Oscar

I would say both of those are very doable. I figure I am making some good headway on the short term goal and I have a little bit of time to achieve the long-term goal. Both very possible and both still maintain my I-just-have-to-wait-and-see-what-happens goal making personality. I am sure the Academy would agree.

Friday, March 5, 2010

Lesson #14 - A Full Time Job

Where has all my time gone? I have been in Texas for a little over a month now and it has flown by. I think I am on the computer just about 8+ hours a day doing lots of research, writing, and arithmetic (okay not really arithmetic.) It’s like a full time job! If only I was getting paid for all this work…

Between applying for jobs, I have started a couple new ventures. First I’ve been doing a little volunteering with my mom’s friend/colleague in developing a new website, database, and potentially a communications schedule. It’s for a non-profit here in Austin called Hope Street (formerly Christian Women’s Job Corp) and it’s been fun. They are pretty much on the ground floor but in a great position to take off. I love applying some of the things I have learned along the way to help them develop an online presence and hopefully grow their classes, volunteers, and donor base. It’s always challenging to figure out ways to help them succeed without a lot of capital. Well challenging, but usually very rewarding. Now if only it had a cash reward that went directly in my pocket…

My other venture is starting a food blog of sorts. My mom and I decided that we needed to make a diet change. A “switch” is actually what we are calling it. Remember my New Year’s resolution of losing 15 pounds? Well I would say I am getting on track for achieving that goal. Check out our new blog and read our tweets as we try to incorporate more superfoods into our diet and leave behind the processed empire that reigns over the grocery aisles. Let’s just say my old roommate, Erika, would be proud.

These three things - job hunting, volunteering, and writing - have really taken over my time recently. But I have mostly enjoyed it (well, minus the job hunting.) Now I am just hoping it will all pay off…

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Lesson #13 - The Olympics

So I finally made it to Austin. I’m sure you have figured that out already. It’s been an interesting change, but I think I am starting to get used to it. Well I am speaking for myself anyway. My boyfriend hasn’t even been here a week and I have a feeling he isn’t even feeling close to settled.

I still have yet to find a job here in Austin. It’s hard because I feel like I have been looking forever and still have no results. And it is true I have been looking for quite sometime, but the reality is I just barely started my search in Austin. So I shouldn’t get frustrated too quickly.

We’ve been watching our fair share of the Olympics lately. Those athletes are really inspiring me. Maybe that is why people love the Olympics so much. I watch them and think how much discipline they had to have to bring them to where they were. I’m thinking that if I put as much discipline into looking for a job or eating healthy as they train for their sport then I for sure will be able to score that job and look hot in a swimsuit.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Lesson #12 - Heartburn

I have been having some insane heartburn lately. It’s extremely uncomfortable.

I made it to Austin last night and have been weirded out since my mom picked me up from the airport. Even she says it seems surreal that I am here. She also said she is trying to not get too excited in case I actually don’t move here. I wonder what other proof she needs that I am here?

It was sad flying out of Portland yesterday. The sky was clear so I was able to see the many mountains the northwest boasts. I even got to see my Seattle mountain, Mount Rainier, which was refreshing and so appropriate.

On the plane I passed the hours playing the addicting game of Bejeweled and listening to a little City and Colour. Which might not have been the best musical selection because it might have started bringing tears to my eyes. It gave me an I-am-sad-I-am-leaving-the-Northwest-and-I-don’t-want-to-start-crying lump. Although that could have been the heartburn. It’s hard to say.

Well I am here in Texas. A little shell-shocked, a little culture-shocked, and a little curious about what is going to happen next.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Lesson #11 - Rollercoaster

It’s official. I am moving back to Austin.

I am excited and nervous and happy and sad and ready and scared. All at once.

My family couldn’t be anymore ecstatic, my boyfriend couldn’t be anymore cautious. And I am somewhere in the middle. Maybe a little more on the cautious side mixed with lots of anxiousness and uncertainty as to what to expect.

I haven’t lived in Texas in over 3 years and haven’t been to visit in over 1 year. I know in those 3 years I have attempted to share my love of Texas with my fellow northwesterners but I know I have changed. I am probably a little more liberal, a little more into recycling, and a lot more into hot drinks. Will I get annoyed with the intense conservatism? What will I do with all my composting and plastic bottles? And will I still want to drink hot drinks when it’s breaking 100 degrees outside? These are very pressing questions, people!

In all my crazy anxiousness driving home last night from my boyfriend’s house, a sense of security fell over me. And not security that I would be moving home to the familiar, because in all reality it is far from familiar. The security that Jesus has me strapped in.

You know how everyone always compares life to a rollercoaster and all its ups and downs? And we think it’s going to be okay, because we know rollercoasters are fun. But they are only fun because we trust and have security that the seatbelts we are wearing are going to keep us safe on those ups and downs and sharp turns. If those seatbelts weren’t there, we wouldn’t have fun because fear that we could not hang on would play a huge role. And the fact is we probably couldn’t hang on.

But I am strapped in. And ready to have fun.

Monday, January 4, 2010

Lesson #10 – New Year’s Resolution, Part 2

Okay, so I have thought about it and realize there is nothing I feel would be beneficial to me if I tried to do something everyday. So I decided to make a list of things I really do want to accomplish over the course of this year. I figured if I write them down and post them on the web for everyone to see, that I would feel accountable to them and possibly reach those goals. Or at least start them.

Goals for 2010:
  1. Lose 15 pounds (cliché, yes)
  2. Find a job that is in my ‘career path’
  3. Complete writing a screenplay
  4. Get followers on a blog (more than just my boyfriend)
  5. Dance more
  6. Study my family history
  7. Pay off all my debt
I think I need to have some sort of thing that will happen to me if I don’t give a good attempt at completing these goals. (Hmm, thinking, thinking, thinking…)

Got it! Shopping. If I don’t complete/give a serious effort in finishing these goals, then my 2011 resolution has to be no shopping for myself.

Now that is motivation.

Here is a toast to the start of this new decade!

Friday, January 1, 2010

Lesson #9 - New Year's Resolution

2010.

The start of a new year. The start of a new decade.

I am ready for a new year, I am ready for a new decade. And I am really hoping that the year does not feel like I have so far these past few hours of this day.

I do not recall sleeping last night. The sofa bed at the hotel where the night before they offered free booze just didn’t quite cut it. Neither did the all night yelling. Not that I am complaining, just still a little grumpy. So yes, let’s try and forget these first few hours of this year. Well, as soon as I catch up on my sleep…

Truly I am hoping that in 364 days from now I will be able to look upon 2010 and think how much I have accomplished this year. I will remember where I was today and all the flubs of 2009 and think, “wow a lot has changed and I couldn’t be more happy/relieved.”

My boyfriend has decided that his New Year’s resolution is going to be designing something everyday. That is a big feat, but I am sure he can do it and do it well. (It is his job anyway.) As for me, I can’t decide. I have thought about losing 20 pounds, writing a screenplay, paying off my debt, getting a new job, you know the usual. In reality I hope all of those happen. I like the discipline factor though that comes with doing something everyday. So I am still thinking exactly what that will be. My New Year’s resolution might just start a few days later. I will keep you posted.

As for now, over and out and I hope you have a very blessed new year.