a vacation that's not a vacation!

Well, the last week has been super stressful, but in an amazing way! Austin was so educational. And I don't mean the city haha. I spent almost 6 days there and never left the hotel. I did not get to have a good Texas steak, nor did I spend ANY time on the famed 6th street (famed because the 1 person I know from there told me it was awesome..). I spent 6 days working harder than ALL my finals weeks in college COMBINED. And it wasn't even for me!

Fiance had NINE interviews in the span of 36 hours. WOWEE. So the first two days we were there we studied like I have never crammed before. Plus, we had about 12-15 hours of seminars to go to. I now know more about medical sales than I ever thought possible, or ever wanted to know.

However, I ALSO know more about interviewing than I ever cared to know, and I must say, how the hell did I ever get a job?! In my interviews out of college I did and said everything they told us not to. No wonder it took me 6 months to find a job. But, hey, now I have those skills if and when I need them again, so yay that's a plus.

The question of the move has not been answered thus far. Out of those 9 companies, 5 want to follow up with him, and the openings range from LA to Boston... from Phoenix to Detroit, from Charleston to Houston. So yeah... I still have no idea where we'll end up. Although, fiance does have 2 follow ups already scheduled for next week, so perhaps within the next 2 or 3 we'll know!

This past week was rough, but it felt really good that he wanted me to be as involved in the process as possible. And it felt really good that he relied on me so much last week, and that I was actually able to keep him organized and motivated! It feels good to be part of a team :)

tomorrow is only a day away

Tomorrow we leave for TX! I am getting so nervous. And I'm not even nervous for me! It's cool being nervous for someone else. You know you care about them so much that their feelings mean more to you than yours.

But at the same time, being nervous for someone else sucks because there is no way you can control the outcome. I wish I could do all those interviews for him because then I would be protecting him from any discomfort or unpleasantness. Although, I know he's much better at interviews than I am and I don't have to worry, so it's good that he's doing this himself haha. I get all tongue-tied and sound rather inarticulate at times.

I'm also nervous because we will find out what positions/locations/companies he is interviewing for... locations being the most important one there. Now that we're engaged, location is a huge factor. It's part of the reason we haven't really started planning our wedding.

It is almost impossible to plan such a huge event in your life when you don't even know where you'll be! If we're going to be close to home, we can set any date we want. If we're going to be far away (although anywhere in the US is closer than where we are now... except maybe alaska... ugh!) then we have to be more selective in the date choosing process.

But either way, it will be a weight lifted... no, more like a veil lifted... once we find out. There will finally be a definite future. Something we can plan for. Like home hunting, job searching, activity planning! It's an exciting time in our lives and I can't wait until we know for sure! We just have to get through the next 7 days (and then the next 3 weeks of follow up interviews) and hopefully we'll have a future home-base! I'll definitely keep you posted :)

getting closer

So, one week from Thursday, finace and I leave for Austin. We'll be there for about a week, although we probably will only see the airport, the hotel, and maybe one nice restaurant. Why? Fiance has several (8-10) job interviews at this conference we are going to, and my role in the week is to keep him focused, organized and prepared for each interview he goes on. I have been told by the recruiters he's working with that I'll probably be busier than he is while we're there.

I'm actually really excited by this. It makes our whole future together more "our decision" than just "his decision that I follow" which is how it has been for the last 4 years. And don't get me wrong, I don't resent that or anything because let's face it, in the Army, his decision wasn't really his decision either. It was Uncle Sam's, and we both had to follow it blindly.

But now, I know I'm finally going to have some input. I can tell him which opportunities I think are the best for us, and I also get a say in our location! I mean I know the decision is ultimately up to him, but now that we're getting married, I KNOW that what I think and feel about these jobs really truly matters to him. And I've always known that, but it's nice to be certain and to have that sense of stability, especially in these unstable times for us!

Our last night there though, after all the interviews are done and we can both let out a huge breath, we're going to go have a nice dinner and a drink or two. Anyone know of a good restaurant in Austin? Particularly good steak? I hear Texas is famous for that ;) We'll need a good meal after the stressful, but exciting week we're going to have, especially since the next 3 weeks of waiting are going to be just as stressful, and exciting!

Yay for taking steps in a new direction :)

2009 is devine :)

Wow, so it's been a long time since I've posted! I noticed that when I was in Ohio, I was so busy running around trying to be everywhere at once, that I just did not have time to sit down and blog! There was so much that happened too!

The most important thing that happened, which I'm sure most or all of you (my whole 3 readers haha) know is that BF finally proposed!!! I suppose now I will have to call him Fiance in this blog :) I could just call him by his name, but I like having a little bit of anonymity (is that how you spell that?) for any people who don't know me that come across this blog. No offense to you unknown readers, but if you really want to know, just ask ;)

But yes, it FINALLY HAPPENED!!!! I'm so excited I could burst!! I don't think I've had as many phone calls in my life than I've gotten over the past two days of well wishers and congratulators, and I want to say thank you, from the bottom of my heart for being so genuinely happy for me. Because I have been dreaming about this for oh so long and it's finally happened! :)

Fiance and I were talking last night (well, I was talking and he was laughing at me a little) about certain details and I was saying that I was trying to find pictures of this one church I absolutely LOVE and he was laughing at me like "We've been engaged two days and you're already picking out churches?" And I told him "Well, I've been thinking about this a LOT longer than the past 2 days!" He just couldn't believe how different guys and girls are. Like, he couldn't believe that I'd been thinking about where/when/what it would look like for approximately the last 3 years. I may have scared him a bit by this revelation, but he's stuck with me now ;)

Actually I think he thought it was kind of cute, so that's good. Anyway, I'll post again later about the proposal and how it all went down in case you don't already know and keep you all posted about any wedding plans we make! Although I doubt it will be for a while, but I'll still keep you all posted!

I'm getting married :)

the most wonderful time of the year

Christmas is upon us ladies and gentlemen! It's less than 3 weeks away! So you know what that means... it's time to SHOP! I have been shopping for about two weeks now and I'm only about halfway done. It's hard for me though, because I know anything I buy here I have to lug home with me to Ohio and that is just hard to do.

So, this year I have been trying the ordering things online technique. the only problem is, I'm praying so hard that they get there on time. I already know one of my orders was backordered (after they specifically told me it was in stock!!!) so I had to cancel that order and found it (the very last one on a random shelf no where near where it was supposed to be) in a store all the way across the island. Thank goodness! But I still have so much to get for so many people!

When I get back to Ohio I'll have exactly 1.5 days to shop until Christmas since I'm working the week of Christmas and have dinners planned every night until after Christmas is over. When you're only home a few times each year, your time is in very high demand! Plus, I have to make time to spend with BF's family because I don't want them to think I'm snubbing them or something, that would be bad.

Yes, it's the most wonderful time of the year, but I guarantee, it will be the busiest and perhaps the most stressful two weeks of 2008 for me. For many people it's the most stressful time of the year. I personally think we all need to take a chill pill and realize that it's not WHAT you give people, but the THOUGHT that goes into the gift and the love that we all give and receive at the holidays. That's what Christmas should be about. Not material goods. And while I know this, I already know that I will spend those 1.5 days shopping and tearing my hair out trying to find everyone the perfect gift.

Oh well, Christmas time is here again. I'll calm down after New Year's ;)

Thanksgiving treats

Thanksgiving weekend. It's amazing. Great food, great wine, great friends... what more could you ask for?

Technically, on Thanksgiving we didn't see any of our friends since BF and I made our own turkey (a whole 18 lbs!!! That we have been eating once a day since... hehe) and spent the evening enjoying each other's company and watching football and movies. It was a really great day.

One of the things I do like about my job (of which, there aren't that many) is that my company is awesome enough to give us the day after Thanksgiving off as a holiday too (which is absolutely amazing since I don't have to worry about oversleeping with the food coma issue and all).

Anyway, Friday we met up with some friends and went kayaking in Kailua to some little uninhabited islands that have little private beaches and areas to explore. (I'm amazed no one got hurt! Even though I did fall down a sand dune... and when I say fell, I mean it was like rolling down the hill when i was a kid to get dizzy, except not on purpose... and that i got sand all over myself...)

It was one of the most fun days I have had here in HI. Even though my arms were KILLING ME (I was in a single kayak and it takes over an hour of rowing to get there, and about an hour back) and I was exhausted, it was great. After the adventure, we found a hole-in-the-wall pizza place, Bob's Pizzeria hehehe that was also amazing! One slice = 1/4 of the pie hahaha.

That night our friends came back to our place to grill out burgers and dogs for a good old fashioned Wii night (oxymoron? i guess the Wii can't be considered old fashioned, but you know what I mean). It was overall an awesome day.

The rest of the weekend was spent braving the shopping malls trying to get ideas for Xmas presents. I failed... I only succeeded in buying something for my neices, and one thing for BF, but the rest I bought for myself... I know, I know, I should have spent my time looking for others, but come on, I'm going to the complete opposite temperature extreme in 3 weeks and I only had 2 light sweaters to wear! I had to find something! (and sweatpants, and jeans, and a new year's outfit.....) It's not like I'm Becky Bloomwood! (If you don't know who that is... read "Confessions of a Shopoholic"... it's so fun)

Anyway, now its back to life as usual until Christmas. Boo life as usual.. I wish every week was a holiday 3 day work week ;) Can't wait to see everyone at Christmas though. And I want to make a very special shoutout to Amy and Jeff. Congrats you guys on the engagment! :)

bored

Why is it that when you're waiting for something oh so anxiously, time seems to slow to something resembling a snail moving backward?!

Seriously, it's only Tuesday, and I feel like this week has gone on for a month. Since it's a holiday week, I only have three days of work this week, as many of you do. So, a three day week should go quickly right? WRONG!

Most of the people I work with took vacation this week, as I'm sure most of the people from other companies did whose work I rely on to get work. So, basically NOTHING has happened the whole week with the exception of a rare conference call I got to be on since everyone else was on vacation.

I only have 90 more minutes left here today and I am slowly dying of boredom. There is just nothing to do right now! I wish it was this time tomorrow so I could be bored, but anxiously awaiting my 4 days of freedom which I will spend eating turkey, kayaking, and playing the new guitar hero world tour game. (I tried to convince BF to WAIT and let me give it to him for xmas, but sometimes he gets impatient. He wants what he wants when he wants it!)

Ack! Sorry this post has a total lack of content, but sometimes when there is nothing going on, you really have nothing to write about but still feel the urge to vent ;)

Happy Thanksiving everyone!