The horizon

There are some exciting things on the horizon. Still no full-time job, but I landed an awesome (although unpaid) internship that will hopefully lead to bigger and better things. I'm working multiple jobs 7 days a week, but I have to make up for all the time I couldn't find any work and had no income. So for now things are going well and I have a few things cooking that could be fabulous. Updates to come later!!

As for other aspects in my life, May is gonna be huge. In two weeks my little brother is graduating from college. He has had to overcome some serious road blocks to get where he is and I can't believe it's finally here. He has definitely enjoyed college to the fullest, but he worked hard as well. I'm so proud of him and excited for him. I know first hand how scary the job market is right now, but if I can make it he can too. Not to mention he could sell ice to an Eskimo so I'm sure he'll have no problem talking someone into giving him a job. He's not exactly sure what direction he wants to go in, but neither am I and I've got a few years on him. Although if he gets a job offer before me, I may have to beat him up.

Aside from the family time to come, I've a little spoiled lately. My parents came to Charleston two weekends in a row and we all got to attend my brother's formal. Our lovely family photo from the event is below. I also went down to my parent's house this past weekend for the Beaufort Food & Wine Festival. My sister and her family came as well. It was good times all around and I loved gettin to see my little neice and nephew. Charlotte is getting such a cute personality and I can't wait til she's older. Well actually I can because she's ADORABLE right now.I knew it was coming, but I have officially reached that age of weddings galore. In the next 10 months I am attending 6 weddings. Three of which I am in. With all of this planning I have realized I absolutely LOVE weddings!! My bank account doesn't love weddings, but where there's a will, there's a way. In about 4 weeks, my old roomies and I will celebrate our first bachelorette party of the season. The location: Charleston. Perfect for me, because I already live here! It will not only be a fabulous reunion, but also a glorious celebration of Heather's upcoming nuptuals! The following weekend I head back to Greensboro for the first wedding of the year. It will be bittersweet. The girl getting married is the older sister of one of my best friends, Natalie, who passed away a few years ago. While I know the day will be absolutely beautiful, it will be hard not to see Natalie standing by her sister. But even if we can't see her, I know she'll still be there.

For now my days are filled with working, dog parks, beaching and cuddlin up with Soco and Tiggles at night. Not as glamorous as my Australia life, I know but . . . "This is just a stop, on the way to where I'm going."

4 months . . .

I knew job hunting would be hard, but I didn't really see myself still without any good leads 4 months in. I've been trying so hard to work towards my future that I lost myself in the present. Job hunting has taken its toll not only on my bank account, but also on my relationships and my self esteem. However, I'm a firm believer in creating your own happiness, so I'm changing things up a bit.

I've been so focused on looking forward that I forgot to enjoy now. I'm living in a beautiful town, I'm healthy and I currently have 4 part-time jobs. I want to be happy now and as long as I can start supporting myself and paying rent to my generous boyfriend who has allowed me to live free at his house, then that is enough for me right now. Of course I want to keep job hunting, but not having my dream job right away isn't failing to me. Even if I have to take another internship with an agency here, I'm fine with that.

So for now I'm ok with being a caterer, babysitter, pet accessory store, freelancer. I'm still designing and expanding my portfolio and hopefully some paychecks will start coming in as well. I'm tired of putting my life on hold for my dream job. Instead, I'm gonna start living my life again knowing that the dream job will come when the time is right.

I heart Charleston

I apologize for not keeping my blog up to date. It's amazing how busy one can be without even having a job.

Ever since I was a little girl, I have always loved the beach. For years my family owned a beach condo in Emerald Isle and my mom, brother and I would live there every summer. Pops would come on the weekends and my favorite weekend, he brought me a kitty. Anyway, I've always known I'd end up at the beach eventually, I just assumed it'd have to be when I was retired. Oh how sweetly life can surprise you.

About 2 weeks ago I had an interview in Charleston. The interviews went well and I was offered a job. I knew it wasn't my dream job but it would get me down to Charleston where I've wanted to be since I graduated college. Not to mention my brother lives there, I already have a few girlfriends there and the boyfriend is there as well. Now I must share, however, my hilarious one day experience at my job. And by one day, I mean my first day was my last day at that job.

When I arrived that Monday morning at 8am we went to the back conference room. There were no chairs, no tables, just one small desk in a corner. They explained that this was the "Attitude" room and there was no leaning on the walls because this is where we got pumped up for the day. Yet another red flag went up, but I was already there so I figured I might as well check it out. I had a meeting with a guy who was training me. He was probably 20 yrs old and had almost graduated from College of Charleston. While writing their mottos and various other information on the white board, I cringed at his absolutely horrible use of spelling. Not to mention he moved his mouth weird and stuck his tongue out when he wrote anything. Around 9:30am it was finally time to head out to our territory. Our job, it turns out, was pretty much scamming insurance companies. In South Carolina you can get your windshield fixed for free if it has a crack (aka not free but your insurance covers it) so we were trying to convince people they needed a new windshield and should choose us.

I mistakenly wore heels assuming that one day in heels couldn't be that bad. I was seriously mistaken. We drove to a territory right near my house, parked at a gas station and started walking. We went in EVERY business. We pitched people and by lunch had made about one sale. Luckily we were close to my house so my trainer took me by the house to grab some tennis shoes. Eric was home and I gave him a quick, omg I think this job is ridiculous and told him I was excited for our dinner plans that night. Out the door and I was back on the grind. We literally walked down the highway and walked into some of the sketchiest stores ever. We're talkin about 3.5 miles I walked in a business suit.

Highlights of the day. . . This guy was outrageous and would walk into random doors and into offices. At one point he walked into this door that was obviously not a business and just had a partition up right near the door. As we walked in, two very ghetto guys were playing video games and smoking pot. He STILL pitched them. Also, he went up to an apartment building that was clearly on the wrong side of the tracks and instead of knocking on doors, he knocked on a sliding glass door. He said "Sometimes its a great way to get business." I replied "Or get shot." Towards the end of the evening when it was getting dark, we were still in the ghetto and he walked up to a group of terrifying guys and tried to pitch them. I literally started praying.

My day ended around 7:30pm. AKA I worked from 8am until 7:30pm for a whopping $90 pre tax. I left almost in tears. Eric and I didn't have dinner until close to 8:30pm and I called my sister and my parents and gave them the scoop. My sister laughed hysterically and said, um quit. My parents were pretty much in agreement so while at dinner I called my boss and said thanks for the opportunity but I didn't feel like it was a good fit for me. At least I got a good story out of it.
Family photo day at the dog park - yes, lame but totally adorable

The good news is I am still in Charleston and I have already fallen in love with this town. I'm living at Eric's house (he's currently in Chapel Hill for a few more weeks doing repairs on the house there so he can start renting it out). It's an amazing 5 bedroom house with a screened in back porch (with a HOT TUB) and a huge fenced in yard for the pup. Our neighborhood is so cute and I try to take Soco on daily walks. Right near us is a neighborhood that would rival Harker's Island with mansions each with their own docks and boats. I'm hoping someone over there has kids and needs a babysitter.
James Island County Park

Also, the dog parks are ridiculous down here. Soco and I love James Island County Park best because it's 3 acres and has a huge lake for her to play in. She sort of escaped yesterday by swimming across the small part of the lake and not coming back, but I was able to find her. My days pretty much consist of job hunting, nesting in this big old house and spending some quality time with Soco. I'm hoping to get Tiger down here soon too, it's been too long since I've gotten to snuggle with my kitten.

Today I'm off to apply for some more catering jobs and start researching Advertising agencies that may potentially be hiring. Let the job hunting continue . . .

Concrete jungle where dreams are made of . . .

It has been entirely too long since I blogged. However, I've pretty much turned into a stay at home mom helping my sister with her kids which doesn't provide for much exciting blog material. Between pirate movies, nap time and the occasional puke its a pretty normal routine. Don't get me wrong, I'm having a great time. It has however reminded me why I'm in no way ready for motherhood.

Last week I got to spend 6 days in the Big Apple. I stayed with my friend Laura and we had a much needed reunion. She is a new proud parent of a cute little kitten named Bella. We bonded immediately. After my arrival, Laura and I got to spend the day drinking margaritas and visiting with her boyfriend and her sister.During the week while Laura was working, I explored the city and continued my job hunt. I attended two job fairs while there. The first one I had to stand in line for two hours in the cold before I even got into the fair. The second one I arrived really early and didn't have to wait outside at all. While we all hear about the high rate of unemployment, it is still pretty depressing to see it first hand. I also tried to contact some recruiters up there but I haven't heard anything back. I'm not sure if I necessarily want to live in NY, but for the right job I think I could do it for a few years.

I also got very touristy while there. I had lots of free time during the day while Laura worked so I explored the city. I went to the Empire State Building and checked out the fabulous view. I also attended some of the fancy museums. The MET is ginormous and I barely made it through a third of it. They have some amazing sculptures there and after walking through it for over an hour, my feet were throbbing. I caved and took a cab back to Laura's apartment. I also met some friends and went to the Museum of Natural History. We saw the space show and wandered through all of the bones and fossils. We wanted to stay longer but we were starving and another friend was outside waiting for us. After the museum we had lunch at the Shake Shack. It was YUMMY.

The best part of my NY trip was all the fun reunions I had. Wednesday night I got to have dinner and drinks with my friend Alex who I met while in Australia. We talked about how much we missed Aussie and all the good time we had there.

Thursday night was a doozy. Laura and I had dinner with my cousin and his wife. It was a fabulous Mexican restaurant called Rosa Mexicana. Between the delicious food and the margaritas we were set. After dinner I ventured on my own out to Brooklyn to meet up with one of my old roommates. While trying to catch the subway, a guy held the door for me and I started chatting with him and his friends. They were a rugby team and one of the guys was actually from Brisbane! It was so random but made the night more exciting. I arrived in Brooklyn safely and met up with Jess and her roommates. We went to a Help for Haiti benefit and were serenaded by Qtip and ?uestion. After a glorious night of drinking and dancing, we decided to head back to Jess's house. On they way out I saw Mos Def (famous rapper and actor) and wanted a picture. I chatted him up but he wouldn't let me take a picture. I did, however, learn that his grandmother lives in Raleigh which is about an hour from where I live. Saweet. It was such a fun reunion with Jess.
Friday night Laura and I had a tame night in and then had a shopping extravaganza on Saturday. Laura's boyfriend and his twin brother came to town that night and we all went out to dinner together. We had dinner at the Blue Water Grill. Best meal I have EVER eaten. I had the Swordfish dish with a side of sweet potatoes and crabmeat. With the sauces they used I can barely describe how good this meal was. The fact that I got two free cocktails and we all got to share two free desserts makes it truly amazing. We ended the night at Dive Bar by Laura's house. Needless to say, flying home Sunday was pretty miserable.

As for my current life, I've started doing a temp job for some extra cash while I'm job hunting. I'm still living with my sister and her husband and will continue to do so until I can find a full time job. This weekend I'm headed to Charlotte for a fishing expo with my dad and then to Chapel Hill to settle the rest of my furniture thats not in storage yet.

I'll try to keep my blog a little more current aka I'll try to make my life a little more exciting :)

let it snow. let it snow. let it snow.

I arrived home on December 4 and on December 6 I headed to Greensboro to visit my sister. It was freezing cold, but I got to see my sister and her family and I got to roadtrip. I packed up my car with enough outfits to last me a month if needed and hit the road. My mom offered to ride with me instead of my dad, but I explained that I planned on blasting my music and putting the windows down. She hopped right into dad’s car.

That drive was glorious. It was freezing but I had the windows down. I loved the feeling of that cold air rushing across my face. And I missed my Bose sound system in my car. It’s beautifully loud and makes driving so worth it. I got on 70 and just drove. As I passed my old exit in Chapel Hill I was tempted to veer off and drive down Franklin Street, but I knew my sister was waiting for me. I pulled up in front of her house and started running to the door. I was greeted by Logan and Kendall waiting for me. He turns 3 this month and he said “I’m so glad to see you Aunty Kennan!” He is so smart and I can’t believe how much I missed him.So far it’s been lots of family time and lots of reunions. I’ve gotten used to living out of suitcases and not getting much sleep. My sister had surgery right after we arrived so my parents and I stayed around to help her with the kids. That means getting up around 5am and getting overly excited about naptime. I’ve learned a lot having to take care of two little kids. Mostly I’ve learned that I don’t want kids anytime soon. Since then my parents have left and I’m enjoying getting to spend so much time with my sister. It’s been years since we could hang out like this.

My first trip to Target was overwhelming. They had Target in Australia but it was expensive and didn’t have the variety we have here. I was like a kid in a candy store. I spent entirely too much money but all on things I didn’t know I couldn’t live without until I saw them. Shopping at Express was fabulous as well. I got some white tank tops I couldn’t live without and a gorgeous faux leather biker jacket. I’ve always wanted one and this one was a perfect fit.

Last weekend was the much-anticipated reunion with my roomies. We couldn’t all be there, but we got 5 out of 7 together. We had drinks and caught up on each other’s lives. We headed out to 42nd Street Oyster Bar and finished up at Nappertandy’s. It felt like I had never even left. Big news: Since our glorious reunion, two of my roommates have gotten engaged!! I guess wedding season is upon us.

On Friday, I saw my first snow of the year. It was beautiful, and it kept coming down. I had planned on attending a tacky Christmas sweater party that night. The snow, however, changed our plans. Instead, in my beautiful outfit I headed to Chumley’s with some friends. We couldn’t drive all the way to the party, but we still had some fun in the snow and some drinks. Saturday I got up early and played in the snow with my family. We threw snowballs, built a snowman and attempted snow angels. Luckily Target is close by and I was able to pick up some boots. My sneakers weren’t cut out for 6.5 inches of snow.
Saturday night was yet another tacky Christmas sweater party, but this one wasn’t snowed out. The outfits were glorious and with our game of dirty Santa gift exchange, I ended up with my very own leopard print Snuggie. I’m currently snuggled up in it and I have no idea how I ever lived without one.

The job hunt is going well. I still haven’t actually heard back from any jobs, but I’ve met with a recruiter here and have applied for some really great jobs. I’m still not sure where I’m going to end up but hopefully I’ll have a better idea sometime soon.

let the reunions begin . . .

The flight from Fiji was a breeze. The Fijian man next to me kept trying to talk to me, but once I focused on my movie he finally stopped. The only downside was that the movies were just playing continuously so you couldn’t pause or start a movie; you just had to jump in. After watching Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (which was hilarious) I popped a prescription sleeping pill and slept for a good 5 hours. By the time I woke up, we were practically to California.

Once we landed I turned on my cell phone, which I haven’t done in 5 months. Thanks to all my loving friends I had ONE voicemail. Yes, one. In their defense I did say in my voicemail message that I was out of the country. I got to call my sister right when we touched down and it was so fun to finally be able to call people on my cell phone and hear their voices! Customs in LA was a joke and they didn’t even look at our bags. We got to our hotel easily (and for free!) and relaxed for a few hours in the hotel. Unlike our Fijian hotel, these beds were heavenly. After a shower I passed out for two hours and recharged my batteries.

We have family here in California through my sister’s husband. We don’t get to see each other often because we live on opposite coasts so they drove up from Newport Beach to take us to dinner. They decided to take us to Beverly Hills, woot woot! We went to a restaurant called The Ivy, which is very famous and adorable. We had so much to catch up on and were at the table for about 1.5 hours laughing and telling stories. On the way back to our hotel, they drove us through Beverly Hills, down Rodeo Drive and by all the fancy shops. It was fabulous reunion and something we wish could happen more often. In January they move into their new house so we’ll plan a trip to visit again soon.

Back at the hotel mom and I rented Paranormal Activity. It was the stupidest movie ever and really not even scary. Dad was mad that we wasted $13. Although the beds were comfy, I had a restless night stressing about everything I have to get done when I get home. Between finding a job, reunions, holiday parties, storage units, doctors appointments and finding a place to live, I’m gonna have a busy December. Mom and dad had no problem sleeping and dad even slept in until 7am. We organized our luggage, weighed it for the last time, had a quick breakfast and then we were off for the airport again.

Here is my vent about American airports. As Americans, our airlines are screwing us. On Australian and New Zealand airlines such as Qantas and Air New Zealand, you are not charged for bags. On the flight, you are offered fabulous food and a drink of your choice (including alcohol aka wine, champagne, liquor, beer) FOR FREE. Then, they come through again on the flight and offer you ANOTHER free drink. The seats are more spacious and the atmosphere is much more friendly. Now, to America. Our original flight from Nadi, Fiji to LA was canceled so we had to spend another night in Fiji, courtesy of our airline there. Because of that, we had to push our flight from LA another day which was a $150 charge per ticket which supposedly US Air is going to comp. Today is the last leg of our international flights, on which you are allowed two 50 pound bags each. Because we stayed the night in LA, they now consider our flight home as domestic and charged each of us $15 for the first bag and $25 for the second. BUT WAIT. My reservation was done a few days later than my parents, in which time they changed their fees so for me it was $20 for the first bag and $30 for my second. Grand total $130 for luggage. After weighing each of our bags, we then had to carry them to another area to load them on the extra machine. That lady was a peach, but with her job I can’t really blame her. We had no glitches in security, but considering you strip down and can’t even take a bottle of toothpaste, we were ready for American security. With mom’s knee replacement, she’s getting used to getting frisked at airports every time she sets the machine off.

When I got off the airplane in Charlotte, a huge smile crossed my face. Just to my left was one of the places I’ve missed most: Bojangles. I went straight for a chicken supreme dinner with sweet tea and it was everything I’d imagined it’d be. We had a short layover in Charlotte and then boarded the plane to New Bern, NC. It was a small plane and extremely loud, but it got us there in one piece, which is all that mattered. New Bern airport is adorable. There were rocking chairs to sit in and a huge wooden statue of a bear. There was only one belt for luggage. Mom and I got the bags while dad went to pull the car around. When he paid the parking bill ($138 for 3 weeks) the lady gasped because she’d never seen a parking bill that high.

Unfortunately for us, my mom had left some milk in a cup in the car . . . for three weeks. So as we loaded into the car, I had to hang my head out the window because it smelled so rancid. Driving with the windows down eventually helped and we sang Christmas carols all the way home.

Seven loads of laundry later, I finally have all clean clothes. Tiger was ridiculously excited to see me and hasn’t left my side yet. Lucky and Bear keep following me too. I missed having animals!! Jet lag hasn’t been so bad and we were even up a little late last night having drinks and dinner with my parent’s friends. I’ve repacked and I’m ready for all my travels upcoming. Between visiting friends, job hunting and dealing with everything I left behind 5 months ago, its going to be a long month.

I’m off to Greensboro today to see my lovely sister and her family. Then it’s reunion time with my loves!!!

Homeward bound

Checking out at Vomo was sad. We’d gotten to know a lot of the people and a lot of the guests. We had lunch on the beach and saw some sharks right on the edge of the water sunning themselves. After lunch we had to finish packing and check out. Our boat ride to the main island was an adventure in itself. Our driver gunned it the whole way and with the choppy water it was kinda painful. I laughed most of it off, but mom and dad were not pleased. He even hit a wave so hard that the water poured over the bow and we all got wet. I couldn’t stop laughing. Papa dukes asked the driver to slow down but he always sped right back up. By the time we got to the marina (45 minutes later) dad was fuming. Right when we got to the dock, the manager of the marina was there to ask for our drivers name because the police were waiting for him in the office. Evidently he also sped through the marina and was being issued a ticket. Karma much? Finally we arrived at the Sofitel Hotel in Denaru, Fiji.

The entire trip we’ve stayed at 4 and 5 star hotels and they have all been fabulous. Our favorite has been the Sofitel in Brisbane. It had lush beds and everything you would need at a hotel and more. We assumed this Sofitel would be the same, but we were wrong. It is a 5 star hotel, but by Fijian standards. Our beds were practically roll-aways and one of the most uncomfortable beds I’ve ever slept on. We had a delicious dinner on the waterfront and watched a movie in the room before trying to get some sleep on those beds. Dad couldn’t take it and dreamed about airplane seats because they’d be more comfortable than these beds.

Somehow, mom and I must have been tired because we slept until 9:30am when dad finally woke us up. We had to check out of our hotel by noon, but we weren’t getting picked up for our flight until 7pm. That’s a lot of hours to kill. We checked out, had breakfast and then headed to Nadi Town for some shopping. Nadi Town is like a little India (according to my mom who has actually spent some time in India). The people at the shops are in your face trying to sell you things, not to mention all of the people in the streets as well. It is also quite dirty. But, we made the best of it and did some shopping for Christmas. One shop we went into took us towards the back for a traditional welcome. I knew what was going to happen, but I figured the parent’s reaction would be worth it. He had us sit down and told us we were going to have traditional Kava. He showed us the powdered Kava, which he poured into a sack. He then poured water into a big bowl. He placed the sack in the bowl and then mashed it with his hands, which turned the water a milky brown. Mom’s face was priceless. It is rude to refuse Kava, but my parents would have none of it. I, of course, decided to give it a go. I had to clap, say “Bula,” drink the whole cup and then clap three times. It was revolting stuff and my tongue went numb instantly. I like being open to new things, but maybe I shouldn’t be open to ALL new things. Dad’s response was that I better not complain about wherever we had lunch because I just drank a finger bowl. What was I thinking?

A few more shops and then we headed to Curry House for lunch. The owner was very nice and showed us the fresh catches of the day. We ordered two large lobsters with fixins and big ice teas. The lobsters were delicious and the tea was such a relief from the heat. The owner also brought us some homemade curry to try. He said it wasn’t hot. He lied. My mouth was on fire and I had to finish my tea and some of my mom’s. We were polite though and spread it around so it looked like we ate some. After finishing up shopping we headed back to the hotel. Mom and I changed into our swimsuits and sat by the pool. We saw the ground oven where they cook the meat for dinner on hot stones under the earth. They wrap the food in tinfoil so it doesn’t get dirt on it, but back in the day they just used palm leaves to wrap the food.

We watched the Fijian dancers, swam in the pool and had some ice cream before it was time to get ready to head to the airport. We loaded up our 6 ginormous bags for almost the last time, checked in and went through security. They confiscated my Sean John perfume because it wasn’t in a plastic bag, but the security guy gave me a squirt so I’d smell pretty on the plane. We just had a fabulous cheese pizza and are now waiting to board. Around 1pm on December 3rd we will land in LA. That night we’re having dinner with the Tomalas’ and then the next morning we will finally be home. Soooo much traveling but it’s been worth it.