Time is going by SO SLOW!

So I've been here at my new job for just over 2 months. Ridiculous. I moved out here and started this job in the middle of April and now it's the end of June. I feel like I've been out here for at LEAST 6 months if not more, but it's only been 2?! It makes me wonder why everyone says my wedding day will be here before I know it, because if this past 2 months have gone by so sluggishly, then how is this next YEAR going to go by?
But speaking of this year here are two things going on:
1) Now that we've FINALLY reached the year-until mark of The Big Day, (when I called Colin that morning to say good-morning he didn't answer the phone- the sweet melodies of Canon in D did! We're both super excited!) I am finally REALLY getting into the wedding planning. I've been narrowing down my search for dresses and bridal boutiques and will pick a date sometime this summer hopefully to start trying on gowns. I've started a registry at Crate and Barrel and looking into prices on honeymoons! (Bora Bora is still on the list!) I've got a wedding checklist that tells me when to start looking for and picking certain things about the wedding so, a big YAY to actually being able to act like I really am getting married!!
2) It's official; I can not stay at this job any longer than I had previously hoped to be. This job is not at ALL what I want to be doing the rest of my life, or for the rest of the year for that matter. So I've sent out a resume and cover letter to, surprise, surprise, the Department of Corrections. And before y'all freak out, no, it's not to be a corrections officer like my soon-to-be hubby. I applied for a personnel position in the HR department. So another office job, but most likely a lot LESS boring and a huge pay increase. The main reasons I can't stay at this job are: the 2-hr each way commute is a killer. literally. I spend nearly nearly $300 a month just on the cost of commuting every day. That $300 could go towards my dress! or invitations! or favors! Also, I simply just don't get paid enough. I know it's a big step up from working at Sears, but not by much. After taxes, health insurance and commuting are deducted from my paycheck, it's almost as if I just got a few dollars more an hour than what I was making at Sears. And the fact that I work more than 40 hours a week and don't get paid for it is another thing. But back to my paychecks.... If Colin and I are going to move in together when we're married, like most normal married couples do, then I can not stay here and that is the absolute main reason I need to look for a new job. I think even if I liked this job I couldn't stay for that exact reason. I simply just don't make enough money to live on my own, pay a rent/mortgage, bills, groceries and all sort of other living expenses that I don't pay now.
So I've applied to that one job! It's definitely not something I'm qualified for though, but then again, what job was that I applied to over the last year...
So anyways, I guess keep your ears and eyes open for any jobs I might be able to snag so I can move on to bigger and better things!

Sunshine State of Mind

So on Wednesday, May 12, Colin and I ventured out on our first real vacation together to Cape Coral, Florida. His older cousin Sara was getting married on May 15 so the family took a mini-vacation and all flew down. He took care of all our travel arrangements so as a result, we had a 3 hour layover in Atlanta which got us into Fort Myers at 9pm. Colin’s mom had gone down the day before so she picked us up at the airport and got us to our wonderful vacation home less than a mile from the beach in Cape Coral. Thursday morning we woke up bright and early; like 7:15am. Colin was engrossed in a book he had bought for the flight so as he read by the pool I took pictures and explored the house some more and made breakfast. We went for a swim in the pool before taking the bikes down to the beach for 10am. This beach was very nice but it was in a bay so there were virtually no waves and as we got close, saw that the water was almost the color of blood. It was a very dark brown and as it got shallower it was a rusty color. We were repulsed by it but all the natives didn’t seem to mind. They were all swimming around like there was nothing wrong with swimming in infested-looking waters. C’mon. This is Florida! Where are the aqua blue waters and big waves?!
After a little over 2 hours there and apparently my body was trying to tell me we weren’t in Massachusetts anymore. We got up to talk to Colin’s cousin who had just gotten there with his three kids and within a few minutes I was seconds away from passing out. I ran to a bench to sit down before I did and embarrass myself. I must have been dehydrated. Colin’s terrible sunburn that showed up later that evening proved to us that being that far south, the sun and the heat are a LOT more powerful than up in New England!
That night was supposed to be a big bachelorette party for Sara, but instead she decided to have one giant party for everyone. The house we were staying at was the largest so all 40 or so guests came over to our abode where we had a big cookout. It was a lot of fun and great to see and meet more of Colin’s family plus all the other people from the groom’s side. We all clicked very well which is always a good thing.
The next day Colin and I went for a bike ride around the area to see the houses. We saw some pretty cool architecture and some pretty amazing mansions on the water. And to think that these houses are SO affordable considering where we live now…
After the bike ride we spent the day lounging by the pool and relaxing. It was in the 90s the entire time we were there, so there wasn’t much you could do outside before you were either feeling overwhelmed by the heat, or your skin was…
That night was the rehearsal dinner. There were about 50 people present at the dinner which was at the Olive Garden. Yum! Afterwards all the family from Colin’s side went out to a bar called the Paradise Tiki Bar. It was a massive tiki hut, open air bar with live entertainment. The guy singing noticed we were from Massachusetts so he started singing Sweet Caroline. That got us all riled up. He came over to our table and we all chimmed in with the “SWEEEEET CAROLIIIINE, BAA-BAA-BAAA”…. And the “SO GOOD! SO GOOD! SO GOOD!”
The next day me, Colin, his mom and his brother all took a trip to Sanibel Island which is next to Fort Myers. It was nice to go to a real beach for once and go swimming in the Gulf of Mexico waters. The water was so warm! We stopped at DQ on the way home and then had to get ready for the wedding. The wedding took place at The Royal Palms Yacht Club in Fort Myers. It’s right next to the Henry Ford and Thomas Edison museums since this was where they vacationed back in the day. The ceremony was nice. It was on the 2nd floor of the building, overlooking the harbor. Sara had picked some fun music to play during the ceremony instead of the traditional processional songs. On top of that, the ceremony was also about 15 minutes. Short and sweet! So downstairs we go to get the party started!
The cocktail hour was fun. We watched the bridal party get their pictures taken outside while the greatest Emcee ever kept us entertained. They had a trivia contest too. They played a few clips from TV shows opening songs and people had to guess. My hand shot up for one of them; it was for Everybody Loves Raymond. But my scratch ticket, the prize they gave away, wasn’t a winning one. Bummer. Anyways, we danced the night away and it was a grand ol’ time.
The next day was Sunday and it was basically our last day there since our flight left at 8am on Monday morning. Again, another great job on Colin’s part for booking our vacation. This day, Colin’s mom took us to downtown Fort Myers. It was awesome. The streets reminded me of Universal Studios. We walked around for a while, went in almost every tourist/souvenir shop there, then had some lunch. Colin and his brother got fried alligator which I tried and it was delicious! Colin and I decided that we definitely wanted to come back to Fort Myers some day and rent a place with a bunch of people because that area is just so much fun! The beach was beautiful, there was plenty to see and do and the drinks were cheap! Not like up here in Boston!
That night we had one final family dinner with everyone. As Colin grew up they had weekly family dinners at his grandparent’s house in Norfolk. All the aunts, uncles and cousins got together so for them this was a real treat since it hasn’t happened in a long time. It was great all being together for one last time before we all departed. Most likely this was the last time his entire family on his mom’s side would all be together under the same roof for a long time, if ever at all. With half of them living in Florida it’s hard to get everyone together. Even for our wedding next year there might be some people missing…
Monday was a long say. We got up at 5:45 to catch our plane to Detroit where we had another 3 hour layover. Long story short though, our plane was delayed and we didn’t take off until 4pm to Providence. I guess it was good to be home but it sure made us promise each other to take many more vacations together. Hopefully as many as we can before we start having kids!

good news, bad news?

So a couple weeks ago on cinco de mayo I had an interesting day at work. It was a Wednesday which is somewhat of a slow day and my manager Kevin had called out. Anyways, sometime in the middle of the day the next level manager Scotty came to me and Andrea, (the other new Traffic girl who started a few weeks before me) and said there was a meeting and we were to attend. This was odd because we have set meetings every week that we go to. A meeting at a random, unscheduled time caught us off guard. Andrea joked asking if we were getting fired. And it got me thinking that perhaps that was the issue! I mean, I had been there for a few weeks now and was still completely lost with my work, so maybe they had picked up on it and were going to give us a stern talking to.

Well the meeting got even more serious when 10 minutes later, the founder/owner/CEO/whatever you want to call him comes in looking bleak. He opens by saying something along the lines of, “if you don’t do your work, you’re going to get fired”. I start freaking out, thinking of all the times I go on Facebook while I’m at work (hey, I’m still learning and if they don’t give me stuff to work on, what else am I supposed to do?). Then he says how three top-level managers had just been fired. BAM. Everyone was shocked. Three Senior Executives, or at least the equivalent of, were let go that day! The CEO, Brad, went on to say how we were in this room, finding out in person before anyone else in the company because we were “the A team”. Phew. They don’t know about my Facebook stalker habits! Yet…

Anyways, the meeting goes on to inform us on the changes now to come, blah blah blah. Then a few hours later Scotty comes back to our department and tells us we’re being taken out for ice cream. I’m not sure if it was to celebrate us being on “the A team” or if this was just one of the many field trips the department likes to take, but it was a welcomed leave of absence from the office for a while. We went to Coldstone and I got a raspberry sorbet with gummy bears.

That was Wednesday. By Friday I had learned that about a dozen or so more people had been let go because of poor work habits. Whether it be sales people never making advertising sales or what have you. That Friday was the last day for one of the Traffic girls (she is now at Staples Corporate, where I first accepted a job then changed my mind last minute to come here. Bold move. Bad mistake.) and she was saying how since she’s leaving and so many people have been let go, this almost solidifies us keeping our precious new jobs. I guess with this market I can’t complain. Even though I do. I guess I can’t help it! I may not be picky when it comes to food but apparently I’m very picky when it comes to a job…

A series of unfortunate events

So this past weekend (first weekend in May) began my series of unfortunate events...
1) Saturday was a beautiful summ- I mean spring day, so I went over Erin's house to lay out by her un-opened pool and pretend like it was June. We haven't seen each other since the engagement party so we had boat loads to catch up on. Literally from the minute we sat on lounge chairs we were chit-chatting non-stop about all sorts of topics. Long story short, I got so caught up in the conversations that I forgot to put my wonderful sunscreen on until it was too late... and I was burnt to a crisp. (except my face because that was the one place I did put it on). And also since we did a lot of face-to-face conversations, my entire right side got most of the color so I had very awkward burn lines on the right side of my body. So it's now Thursday and the burn is about 98% gone. Finally.
2) Sunday was a scorcher. Hot and humid, near 90 degrees by noon... pretty much undesirable weather according to my standards. Well it was the only day that weekend I had time to start getting all the errands done that I needed so after a nice run (and almost taking a free coffee table at a yard sale that I passed by) I headed out to open a bank account, find new pants for work, etc...
Well I go on the highway towards South Attleboro and I realize while I'm driving that in order to stay straight in the lane my wheel is ALMOST at a 45 degree angle. Obviously this is not right and very sudden so I'm wondering what the heck is going on with my wheels! But I didn't think it was anything serious, maybe just my alignment is off. So I pull into the shopping center and go to Bob's. Then in that same center is a Payless which is great because I also need new black shoes! So as I drive over I hear a loud sound that sounds like I have a flat tire. So when I parked in front of the store I get out and sure enough... the tire on the passenger front side is completely flat. WONDERFUL! I've seen a tire get changed once by my dad when I accidentally ran over a curb and slit his tire open when he was teaching me how to drive, which now that would be almost 8 years ago. So even if I could remember how to change the tire, it was WAY too hot for me to even attempt it, and a wasp was flying around. No thanks. So I call Allstate road assistance...
3) While I'm on the phone with them, my phone starts beeping that it's battery is dying. Stupid phone! So to cover all my bases, I send Colin a text to fill him in, even though he can't do much because he's down the Cape for drill, and the only other phone number I had was his step-mother's cell phone which she had just given to me the night before. But she's gone having a couple's massage with his dad and doesn't get the message I left. 1 hour later, Colin's dad calls me and says he's on his way, but just a few minutes before he gets there the tow truck finally makes it and changes my tire. But now the donut tire is like 25% flat too. So I drive Colin's dad's car back while he takes my car to a gas station to fill up the donut with air even though it will get more flat as I drive it. But when we got home he took it to the gas station to get a plug for it and then Monday he dropped it off to get a plug for the main tire.
4) Monday began a new work week and my first time taking the train into the city (at least for business this time, not pleasure). The train ride was fine. Jam-packed though so I had to stand. But the guy never came around to check the ticket so I got a free ride (well I actually didn't have a ticket I was just going to pay cash so it worked out well). But for those of you who didn't hear on the news, The Great Pipe Burst in Boston = no water for the entire city and surrounding towns. So not only did I have to buy a lot of bottled water, but every single coffee shop was closed because they couldn't serve coffee with the contaminated water. Booo...
The only good thing that happened this weekend was Sunday evening. I went over Colin's for dinner and while we were at Stop N Shop picking up the fixings for our Italiano dinner for 2 (Stouffer's lasagna and fresh garlic bread), Colin noticed that we parked next to a peculiar car. It was a silver 2010 Camero with Florida plates and tinted windows all around. This only means one thing in these parts; a PATS player. But which player?
As we shopped Colin saw a 6'3" big jacked black guy with dreads down his back, dressed in athletic gear. DING DING DING! We didn't want to be rude and stare so we didn't get a close look. Colin thought it might have been Brandon Spikes (a rookie line backer who is my age!). He was buying all sorts of feminine stuff and baby stuff. So most likely his wife/girlfriend sent him out to grab some essentials. Colin said he looked completely lost when he was staring at all the shampoos.
Run-ins with PATS players happen often enough for me to put it on my list of Reasons Why I Love Living In This Area. :)

First Week

So today concluded my first full week of work at the Phoenix. To be honest, I still don't know how i feel about the job. As of now, I'm not as happy with it as I thought I would be... what a shame, right?

Things I don't like about this job:

-long commute to work; anywhere between 45 mins-2 hrs, ONE WAY, is what I've experienced so far.

-the traffic is just terrible. Absolutely terrible. I feel like it's taking a huge toll on the car too. I've noticed the breaks squeaking more and more.. worse and worse...louder and louder...

-I still don't understand/know how to do this job!

-long freaking days. I get there anytime between 8:45-9:30 and the earliest I will ever get to leave (unless with permission) is 6:00. But that's getting out on time. This past Tuesday, which is the busiest day because so many things go out to the printer, I was there until 8:45pm. And I got home at 10. Only to wake up at 6:45 the next morning, as I do every morning...

-It's a pretty big company and I don't know who people are. Everyone tells me to talk to so and so, or email so and so and I have no idea who that is, or what they do in the company so I don't know why it's important that I talk to them about certain issues.

-It's actually rather boring work. It's pretty much the same stuff all the time, just wicked confusing. I am so lost with everything that I do there. And it doesn't help that I am always so tired. It's so hard for me to concentrate on what I am doing or retain any of the information that these people are telling me.

-I get home, eat a late dinner, have just a little while to relax, and I'm in bed by 10 at the latest!

I just want to fast forward at least a month to see if my feelings change. I hope they do. This job seemed so cool from the outside! Something to do with my college degree, IN Boston, 2 blocks from Fenway Park nonetheless, and it's a salary job. I thought it would be exciting, and fun, or at the very least INTERESTING. But unfortunately it's not very interesting. At least not right now.

At lunch time today one of the girls in my department said she was going out with some other girls and I was welcome to join them. I needed to buy my own lunch anyways so I said sure! Great way to meet some new people and feel more comfortable.. So we go to this restaurant called The Elephant Walk. It's Cambodian and French cuisine, about a 10 min. walk from the office. We get there, tell the host we're there for the so and so party and he leads us to the back dining room where I find out that it's an informal little baby shower lunch for one of the women at the Phoenix. Talk about awkward....

Thankfully I already met this pregnant lady but other than the girls I came with, I didn't know anyone else and there were no introductions made. So I felt very out of place. Just before the lunch was served one of the girls asked from across the table who I was. I'm sure none of them had ever seen me before and were wondering who this random girl was...

So anyways, the lunch was served. The food was amazing. We ordered an appetizer of Cambodian spring rolls (so much better than the Chinese restaurants) and then I ordered a French meal for my entree. It was Poulet something. Don't even ask me the other 4 words in the title. But it was like a little salad (just lettuce but with amazing dressing on it) potatoes au gratin (aaamazing!) and a chicken breast/thigh combo. It seemed to be fried and then there was an amazing sauce over all of it. I gobbled it all up!

After presents were over, our time there had pretty much reached 2 hours since we left the office. ...OOPS! But I guess that's one of the good things about this job. They are really laid back about what you do with your time there as long as all the work is completed on time. I can surf the web any time I want, or take a long lunch if needed, or go out for a coffee anytime I want.

So anyways, I guess that's all I have to say about the job aspect of my life out here. This is a pretty long post, but since I don't get to talk to y'all about it in person I guess writing long-winded posts is the next best thing.

Until next time...

New Job

So I started my new job on Wednesday at The Boston Phoenix as a Traffic Coordinator. For those who don't know what that is (I sure didn't even when I applied to the job.. it just sounded fun!), I basically take orders for advertisements for the publication, put them into the system and then make a "map" of the set up of the publication with the ads and the editorial pieces all put together. Then I send it off for someone else to physically put it together on the computer then send it to the printers. I'm sure later on down the road I will learn how to do this and I will ultimately be making the entire publication myself (aside from the ads and writing the editorial pieces).
My first day was great. I was taken out to lunch with my group (4 of us including the manager) to Game On (this is where Colin and I had dinner right after we got engaged). Since Game On is right next to Fenway Park, I realized that I think I'm beginning to fit in here; it didn't phase me at all that we were eating lunch with a view of America's Most Beloved Ballpark...
Anyways, I sat with this girl Lisy (although she's not really a girl because although she looks like she could be my age, I think she might be late 20s...?) and she basically did her job which is what I will be doing too. It was a lot of information all at once but no one here expects me to really know anything or do anything on my own for a while.
I think the thing that bothers me the most is how frustrating it is not knowing how to do things. I know this will all come with time, but just a week ago I had a job where I was the "go-to" girl for everything jewelry related. I was the only one in that department that knew what/when/where/why/how things were done. And now I'm back down at the bottom, feeling useless! So it's not really that I'm overwhelmed, I just want to fast forward a month from now when I actually know and understand my job!
Today is Friday and it's a very very very slow day. I've been given a few orders to enter into the system and I've done them all with only a few minor mistakes. Apparently I'll be getting more later...
So there's my first (half) week at my new job! Looking forward to this weekend. Colin is a groomsman in one of his best friend's wedding so we will be having fun on Saturday! Maybe I'll get some ideas for my wedding!
Until next time...

Patriot's Day

So Monday was Patriot's Day, a Massachusetts State holiday. Colin normally has Mondays and Tuesdays off from work, and since I don't start my new job until Wednesday we decided to have ourselves a day of fun (even though all our days together are fun!). We watched the beginning of the Sox game and after having lunch we went to Patriots Place in Foxboro to do some shopping and see the new military exhibit in the Pats Hall of Fame. I bought a new pair of khakis to wear to work and new Sox and Pats decals to put on my new car (well, my mom's old car; thanks mom for that!) and while we were in EMS we overheard some other shoppers and an employee talk about how they were letting people on the field at the stadium for the day! So, obviously we hustled out of there and made our way to Gillette. Apparently they were doing a promo where if you purchased at least $25 worth at Patriots Place then you and whoever you were with could go on the field to hang out, take pictures, play some football, etc. Luckily my new pants were $30 so we were able to walk on the turf at the greatest football stadium there is! Now we realized why there were SO many people there with their kids all wearing Pats jerseys. Colin joked saying that you could tell who all the out-of-towners were by who was wearing the jerseys because to people in the area, this isn't a huge deal. But when we realized that the field was open and obviously a great time for pictures, then that was why everyone had their team gear on.

Afterwards we went to the hall of fame to see the new exhibit about the NFL and its ties with the military. The biggest thing being the Pat Tillman showcase; the Arizona Cardinals starting safety who dropped out of the NFL to join the US Army and was killed in Afghanistan. Colin really enjoyed the exhibit and it's going to be there until Memorial Day.

After this we went to CBS scene for an appetizer and we tried some fried calamari which we both liked. Then we came home and hung out until the Bruins game and ordered some pizza and buffalo wings for dinner.

And that was how I spent my Patriot's Day/Marathon Monday!