85 in January!

I know all of my midwest buddies are going to be hating me with this post, but these pictures were taken last Wednesday when we had a beautiful 85 degree day. I wish I could say I spent the day outside lounging in the sun. The truth however is that I was once again working two jobs in one day. I had a brief break in between which is when I was able to snap these photos.



Today I'm only working at one job and I don't have to be there until 8PM so it almost feels like a day off. My first real day off in a month will be on Thursday! Guess what I'll be doing on Thursday though? Going to a job interview, haha! I was selected for the interview process for a job teaching art twice a week to little kids. I have to bring in my art work and 2 lesson plans for the interview, so I'll be working on preparing for that all day long today. I wish I had thought to have letters of recommendation prepared. It's not required, but it's one of those extra things that tend to make a difference. Since the interview is Thursday it's a bit late to burden people with that now. Oh well, hopefully my work alone will speak for itself. I'm confident in my experience with teaching, the only thing I'm worried about is the fact that it's in Chula Vista, which is a suburb of San Diego. Once they find out that I don't have a car I may be automatically disqualified. :/

I really hope it works in my favor though. I'm so ready to start a job that will lead to a career!





P.S. - Don't you love the "Dr. Seuss" trees in the background? Yes, those crazy trees really exist!


The Breakdown:

Outfit:
Purple Cover-up Top: Thrifted
Salmon Top: Anthropologie
Green Skirt: Thrifted
Flats: Blowfish, Sale

Accessoires:
Sunglasses: Forever 21
Floral Bracelet: Gift
Gold Bracelet: H&M
Necklace: H&M
Brooch: Thrifted



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2011: The Year We Did It Ourselves

2011 has been a crazy year full of many ups and downs and life changing events. On New Year's Eve last year Jon and I dubbed 2011 as "the year we did it ourselves". For the most part we were pretty successful.





In March we went to Chicago for Columbia College's Annual Alumni Screenwriting Award ceremony. Jon had won 2nd place in the contest a previous year, so we were excited to learn the outcome of this competition. He won first place, which sealed the deal of our decision to move to California.

Last April marked the 4 year anniversary of my car accident. I finally got my settlement money and was able to pay off all of my medical bills. It felt great.

In May our lives were put on halt when I found out my dad had stage 4 lung cancer. We stopped planning our move to California and started taking things one day at a time.

My dad was able to celebrate his birthday at the beginning of June, but took a turn for the worse shortly after. I spent a lot of time in the hospital with him leading up to his final stay where he passed away surrounded by family the day before father's day. In place of a funeral we had a small ceremony for him at my house where friends and family gathered to share stories and memories. The next few months I spent every day in disbelief of what had happened. If you had asked me on New Year's Eve I would have never thought I'd be losing my father that year.

In July we went up north to the Upper Peninsula to spread his ashes. It was his wish to be cremated and spread around all of the Great Lakes. As of December we have successfully spread his ashes in all of the lakes except for Lake Ontario.

In August Jon and I started to seriously start planning our move to California again. We did a lot of research and between moving to Los Angeles, San Francisco, or San Diego we chose San Diego. We could be close to Los Angeles but not have to live there and we'd be in the same city as my brother.

In September we started transferring our jobs to San Diego and started looking for apartments.

In October we said goodbye to our family and took off on the super long 37 hour, 3 day drive to San Diego.

At the beginning of November we started our new jobs and I spent the first few weeks applying for a second job. We stayed with my brother until our apartment was ready at the end of the month.

It wasn't until mid-December that I got a 2nd job, but it all worked in our favor because now we can breathe easy and start working on a savings account for our next big life step....a family of our own. While that probably won't come for a few more years it's the next big event we're starting to plan for. :)

I have no clue what to expect for 2012 other than to enjoy my time in California and really live life to the fullest in one of my last couple years of being in my twenties. My two goals for the year are to once again get that savings account going and to steer myself onto a career path. I've worked with Landmark Theatres for what will be 6 years now. I love the company, but I feel like I'm at a fork in the road where I'm asking myself if there is a future at the company in a professional role or if it's just a job and it's time to move on. Only time will tell right?





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