Holy Enchiladas.

It's been an incredibly long amount of time. That's not to say I haven't had anything to write about--there's been more than enough to write about. But the funny thing is that my time to deal with all of it doesn't get any longer.

I'm very proud of my partner in crime, Mr. Jeffrey Hunt, for his move to North Carolina to attend school out there. It was an incredible loss to deal with as I'm not entirely sure on when I'll see him again, but I know he's in a place he loves and he's going to grow tremendously from the experience. I do (and will continue) miss him like crazy, but I've never been prouder of him.

Shortly after Jeff left, Mom, Brian, and Tony began the family relocation to Marietta, Georgia. I've had an equally hard of time with this as well. My habits of visiting Mom at work when I'm stressed or ambushing the boys at the house, or using the boys to get what I want ;) quickly had to be broken. I'll see them this weekend for their return to get some of their stuff, but it's a weird idea that I won't see my family for the holidays this year. I don't have any PTO left to take for the year, so traveling for the holidays isn't an option. It's something I'll have to get used to, I suppose. It'll be tough, though, as I'm very spoiled with great holiday memories with every person of the family. I'm sure my absence in the holidays will be missed as well. Surely they will miss Packles. She might need to travel for the holidays as one Christmas tree will definitely not be enough destruction for my dear daughter.

My lease is up in less than two weeks. I'm moving into Josh's house with him. Needless to say things are going really well with us, still. He's been my rock throughout all of the craziness going on and even throughout all this I can still say I'm incredibly happy. My family is doing what will make them happy, which makes me happy, and I'm doing what is making me happy. It's a good circle.

Work has been a struggle, but I'm getting into a pattern. I decided not too long ago that I have to let the stupid stuff go from work and really, really focus on school this semester. I went a while at work where I was putting in over 50 hours a week and I finally had a discussion with my store manager that the schedule wasn't going to work. I'm still working 40 hours a week with a full class load (4 classes: Stats, Psyc, Soc, and Medical Terminology), but it's working better.

I'm excited about doing very well in school this semester. Like I said I really committed to being focused on school and am aiming to achieve all As this semester. Although I was focused on school before, I'm positive I could've done better and kept my focus more. This semester, I'm ready :)

24th is coming up soon! It's pretty crazy to me that I'm already there--I remember thinking it would take forever to get to my mid-20s. Now they're here and I'm not sure what happened to all the time I had before.

OH! I need recipes for Thanksgiving. I have no idea how to really make anything from scratch for the holiday, so any recipes are MUCH appreciated. I really want to make stuffed mushrooms, stuffing, turkey, and everything also that is so delicious. I told dad even after being out of the house for so long, I still prepare food as if I'm preparing it for 8 people. Leftovers are always yummy anyway :)

This picture always makes me smile. It was taken during Jeff's going away bash. I look at it and think of where I was at in my life a year ago until now. I'll keep posting the pics I look at that keep my smiling. I have to say the cruise pictures come up ALL of the time. Nehemiah's visit, some old pics I don't even have on my comp, only on film... Nothing will ever change the time I've had. I'm so glad to have some pics to look back on some crazy memories.

Miss everyone who is reading. No worries, I look at all of your pics, too. :)

Much, much love and happiness,
Jen

Oh times, they are a-changing...

I GOT THE JOB!

As of this Thursday, I start at the Edina branch as their Service Manager 1. I'm very excited and proud of this accomplishment and expect nothing but great things to come of it! More info to come!!

Here I go again...

Grab life by the horns, right?

Today I interview for a Service Manager position with Wells Fargo. Before I left for Pennsylvania, I told my manager that when I got back I would be looking and applying for any Service Manager 1 positions that were open in our area. She said I had her support and that would be fine. It's been over a month since that conversation and for the first time there were 3 openings in relatively nearby areas for the position I wanted.

So in between customers I compiled my resume for the applications and applied for the positions with my fingers crossed. Both of my bosses supported the process I was going through.

Just two hours after I submitted my applications I got a call from a Wells Fargo recruiter with some initial questions. Three hours after that conversation, I got a call from one of the branches to set up an interview.

And that brings us to today at 2 p.m. Everyone kept asking me if I was nervous for the interview and while I'm not walking in there like I own the place, I'm confident in the work I do. Most importantly, though, I'm confident in me. I didn't need to hear my managers tell me that they think that I'll do well at the position to take the step to apply for it. I didn't need to have someone tell me I should start applying. I'm confident that I will do a great job with this opportunity and, while it is nice to hear it from people, I don't need anyone to tell me.

I have a co-worker and friend who asked if I would be mad if they applied for the same positions. I kind of looked at her cross eyed and asked why and how could I be mad? It's her career choice and who I am to be like, "NO! These are my opportunities! MINE!" However, whereas she wanted to hear that I thought she would do well at the position, I didn't. It's shit or get off the pot, as my mom and grandma would say.

So send me positive thoughts as I tackle the interview today. The biggest thing on my mind is putting together a good outfit and getting my car out of my apartment parking lot by 11 for the sweeper to come through. Other than that, I have myself on lockdown.

What is meant to be will be. If I've learned nothing else in the past year, it's that.

Only me...

This has been an especially frustrating morning.

After starting my car I realized after a quick glance at my keys that my parking pass to the University of Minnesota was missing. Did I mention I was starting my car to go to the last day of classes? I frantically searched my apartment, the area around my car, the areas I had been since last I saw the pass, and to no avail was left with a running car and nowhere to go in it. I called my parents, my boyfriend, my work, but no one had seen the elusive parking pass.

Did I mention that my mailbox key and another spare key are attached to it?

After a quick email to my professors about my unexpected morning drama, I opened my personal email to see my billing statement for my cable had come in. Two weeks ago I waited during my scheduled appointment time for a call that the cable installer had arrived and would be installing my cable shortly. That never happened. Thinking that I perhaps had gotten the time and date of the appointment wrong, I waited for a phone call the following week only to find out that my appointment apparently didn't exist.

What did exist, though, was a charge for the cable that I did not have and the services that were not installed. I called Charter, trying to keep myself calm for what has turned out to be an incredibly frustrating morning. When the representative told me that, no, they had it marked that everything was complete, I had to control myself as I replied, "Sir, I am staring at my internet modem, which should not be here. I'm also staring at my television, which has no box. I know you've never been to my place before, but I can see everything by turning in a circle. There is no cable box, and there is an internet modem. So if you aren't going to do anything about it, please stop charging me for a phantom box and internet that I cancelled."

He promptly started throwing out times and dates for the install--none of which worked with my schedule. We finally chanced upon a time that would work for the install but it's still so frustrating. I shouldn't have to be sitting through this again and I certainly don't think that I should be having to pay for their mistake.

Anyway, I now have to email my apartment complex to see what I need to do (and what fee I need to pay) to get a replacement mailbox key. I'll also have to look at the U's parking map to see where I should be parking for my three finals on campus next week.

Despite all that, I'm looking forward to Jeff's performance tonight and watching Pax lunge at the birds outside the window. She certainly fancies herself a top huntress.

Keeping the fantastic Daisy and her fantastic parents in my thoughts and prayers. Pax sends her love as well.

Tomorrow, Tomorrow, I Love You, Tomorrow...

Today is my final, full day in Philadelphia! Words cannot express how thankful I am to have had this experience and how absolutely 100% ready I am to come home. I finished all my laundry last night, have everything packed, and am just keeping my fingers crossed that my bag isn't over the weight restrictions.

I'm anxiously looking forward to 4:55 p.m. today when I can check into my flight home tomorrow. I'm hoping since I'll leave the branch at noon that I'll be able to get on to an earlier flight, but that is a bridge we will cross tomorrow.

I'm going to be singing "Tomorrow" all day long today...

xoxox

Greetings from Philadelphia!

Wish you were here!

The past few days have been very hectic since my arrival in Philadelphia. Friday we were working from 7 am to 8 pm, Saturday was 7 am to 2 pm and today we (thankfully) had the day off. Yesterday was a terribly rainy, windy day so I wasn't able to go out and about as I had planned... So I slept... A lot.

Today, though, I was able to make it to the gorgeous Philadelphia Zoo (the first zoo in the country!) and snap some pics. After the zoo I went to the King of Prussia mall (the second biggest mall in America) and was unimpressed-- who separates a shopping mall? You have to drive to get to the other side because it isn't connected! Anyway, after that I grabbed some lunch at Panera and went to Target for a little zen relaxation time. If you don't know by now, Target is my go to place when I'm feeling stressed or uncertain. For whatever, it relaxes me. I never claimed to make much sense.

Here are some pictures from the zoo... Enjoy!

It's been far too long...

My apologies for the long absence. I, like flowers in the winter, have a tendency to get a bit dull and maybe even a little bit lazy. Besides that I've been incredibly busy with school, work, and trying to maintain some bit of a life. Also, my cat is psychotic and obese. It's been a trying few months with her demanding food all the time like Jabba the Hut, but we're trying to move past the hurt feelings and name calling ;)

Anyway, who is ready for spring???

 

The zoo has been the only place as of yet that I've been able to snap any pictures of flowers recently. However, Bachman's and a few other places have bulb gardens that I had a lot of success with last year in having some beautiful blooms. The arch nemesis of all things planted (Pax) will make it quite difficult to keep anything inside, though, so I think I will wait until it becomes consistently warm before picking a bulb garden up so that I can keep it outside and thus keep it away from the dastardly Miss Packles.

I realize that I've yet to introduce Josh, my boyfriend. This is us on our Valentine's day date to Ichiban's. We were the only two that went home without to-go boxes--we ate everything! Godd thing we didn't follow through with our original plan of splitting an entree (they are quite huge) because we both finished our own. I think the waitresses and chef thought we were training for a sumo match or something. The cutie on the ground in the picture is Major, Josh's 9 year old black lab. He's the house dog at Josh's place and after nine years still has more energy than most puppies. 

 

I loved these flowers at the zoo. They looked like a bird-flower hybrid crying out for more water or something :)

I realize this entry is short but I need to get some more current pictures to fill you in on what's been going on. I'm anxiously awaiting the results of my midterms for the semester (I had three in one day!) so I've been online checking the class websites once every three hours. It's spring break, mind you, and I hardly think any of the teachers will even think about posting grades, but I will be there if and when they should make that decision. It's Josh's birthday today so I'm still scrambling to think of something to make for him tonight. Fingers crossed the idea will come to me sooner rather than later.