A Very Lucky Girl

After much procrastination, I finally christened my kitchen repertoire with a venture into the world of crockpot cooking. I cook nearly every week night after a long day at work and I've been fascinated with the idea of coming home to a meal that has cooked ITSELF during the day and is ready to eat when I walk into the door. Before investing in a crockpot of my own, I borrowed Shari's to see what I thought of the size. That was nearly a month ago. That sucker sat on a shelf taunting me with every passing day.  I'll admit, I was intimidated by the crockpot. I'm familiar with pots and pans and cookie sheets, but crockpots are a total mystery. It's size alone was enough to send me scurrying for a frozen pizza instead of prepping for a warm meal. In addition to the size of the instrument, crockpot recipes tend to be very ingredient heavy. I'm not an ingredient grocery shopper. I grocery shop once a month (or once every two months if I can get away with it) and buy ...

It's 2:08 pm on a Monday afternoon. I would usually be in appointments with potential students or calling new leads, but instead I'm sitting in bed with Netflix and a frozen pizza. How did I get here? It's a snow day. But it didn't begin that way. My alarm went off at 7:58 as usual and I began my morning. I saw a dusting of snow outside, but I hadn't heard from my boss about whether was campus was open or closed so I showered, ate breakfast, and left for my commute with plenty of time for cautious driving.  On my way to work I fought the internal battle of wanting to go. It's a daily struggle to get up and go to a place where there is a high probability of facing rejection. Don't get me wrong, I love my job. I love that I have the opportunity to change lives everyday. But it does get hard. It can be hard to pick up the phone and call a potential student who has hung up on me 5 times that week already. But the job requires that kind of persistence and tena...

Not having homework is probably one of the weirdest feelings I have ever experienced. When I was school I felt that free time came at a cost, so it never actually felt free. More often than not I would wind up feeling guilty that I was not doing something for school, because there was always a paper to write or studying to be done. Free time rarely seemed to exist. But now a whole new world of legitimate stretches of unfilled time lies before me and I am still figuring out what exactly to do with it. I really hate sitting and doing nothing and I like to feel productive. I might need a regular hobby, but until then let me elaborate on what I've been doing outside of my work weeks so far. Although I am not a big TV watcher, I can binge watch Netflix television episodes with ease. And even though I own the entire Friends collection on DVD, the addition of the seasons to Netflix makes the transition between episodes so much smoother. Yes, next. Yes, I am still watching ...

I have completed an entire week of full-time work at Heritage College and I can honestly say that I love it. The week was not without a few bumps and bruises, but ultimately I am excited about the career I am beginning!  The things I have learned in the past 7 days include: I was incredibly excited to wake up on Monday morning and get ready for work! Tuesday was a far less perky story. Which leads me to... Coffee. Coffee is cool. Commuting is not cool in the least. Although said coffee makes the commute slightly cooler. I am still learning at what time I need to leave the house in order to get to work on time. I either cut it really close or got there 30 minutes early, there was no in-between.  I need to keep plastic forks in my desk because there is no guarantee that there will be any in the break room. I ate my lunch with an ice cream scoop twice.  I have SO much support! Thankful for sweet friends and encouraging calls and texts as I transition to this new time...

I'm a big believer that it does not have to be a new year for me to start something new. But coincidentally, 2014 and 2015 have both begun with changes on the horizon. Last year, 2014, I began an international journey. On January 3rd I left my comfortable American zone and traveled to Dundee, Scotland. Over the course of the six months I was there, Dundee became my new comfort zone and I was terrified to return to America after all of the changes that had taken place in me overseas. But I did it. I settled back into a routine in America and received my Bachelor's degree in December.  I thought I had a job, a clear direction for life post-graduation, but I was mistaken. The DHS position that had been offered to me in November, pending my completed transcript in December, was yanked away in an email that I received a few minutes before one of my finals. It informed me that they had found another candidate for the job. Needless to say, I was furious and frustrated...