Where have I been?

Oh blog readers, I know that I have dropped off the planet. My life lately has been a jumble of activities. I'll try to lay out the past few months for you, catch you up, and start writing again.

Work:

I've been working about 37 hours a week for peanuts at the Pier 1 up here. My assistant manager is horrible and is probably the first person I have never been able to find anything I like about them. I've been trying for 5 months to find something I can like so that I focus on that when I have to deal with her. The search has been fruitless, and I've just about given up hope on her. I spend most of my time at work protecting the associates from the wrath of this woman and it's getting to me. It's a very toxic environment to say the least. The customers up here are also very rude and I get a lot of people who think I'm too young to be a manager.

The job hunt has been very slow goings. Even though I have a degree and a lot of kick-bootie grades, most employers only notice my retail experience so it has been extremely difficult to break into any professional scene. I'm still working on it. I think that to really have the time to find a new job I will have to quit my old one. This is very emotionally taxing since I do love my company and I have been there for 2 years. However, I need a job that is full-time and has benefits. There was a brief lead with a stationary company, but the most they could offer me was 2 part-time positions at once where I shuttled between two of their stores and it was a pay cut.

Home:

The house is slowly coming together. The key word there is slowly. I've been doing some craft projects, we finally hung some stuff up, and our room has a mind of it's own. So far the design is a mix of Pier 1 and Ikea. Ikea is such a magical place and I live 30 minutes from it. I live about 30 minutes from most major retailers. There is even a Tiffanys store somewhere near me. I can't afford anything so I've figured it would be dangerous to go. Anywho, I'll post some pictures of my house updates soon. I need to charge my camera...I haven't done that since we moved and that has affected my blogging.

Steven is amazing. I relish in every moment I have off from work to spend with him. He is so supportive of me and gives the best hugs. It has been great to live with him and have him around all the time. I love it! We play tennis with his family and I'm getting quite good. So much fun!

Health:

Through the stress of the move, my crappy job, and lots of eating, I gained back all the weight I lost for my graduation. So I got a gym membership at an amazing gym called the Freedom Center (the pool has a huge water slide) and I go every morning for 30-45 minutes of cardio. Steven is doing a biggest loser challenge and has lost 20 pounds in 3 weeks. He's doing so well on the program and I'm extremely proud of him.

I discovered soon after I moved here that I needed to have a root canal done. My mother canceled my dental insurance just before my graduation so I've been paying out of pocket. I have been going back to Gloucester for this because it saves me about $700 to go there then to have it done here by an endodontic specialist. In the end it will eat up $2205 from my savings. My tooth also got extremely infected and I had to take a lot of antibiotics. For about 2 weeks all I could eat was mashed potatoes.

Literature:

Where would I be without my books? So far I've spent a lot of time re-reading Harry Potter since the last movie came out. I'm currently reading The Historian. I'm halfway through it and I find it to be predictable. I hope that it gets better because I've had several people recommend it to me and those are normally good books. As Dracula books go, it hasn't been that entertaining for me. After you have experienced the joys of Tanya Huff and her Blood series...one cannot go back to just any vampire story.


Those are the big things that I've been up to. So much has been going on. I need to start writing again for my own sanity it seems, so stay tuned for further updates!