175,000

I hit yet another milestone today... well, my Xterra did. She rolled over 175,000 miles!! And the best part is, they are all mine! LOL

So here it is, more than 10 years later (I bought her in June of 2000), with over 175,000 miles on her, and my Baby Bleu has still never left me stranded (knock on wood). She didn't have her first major repair until this past year... and it was a pretty big repair (intake gasket - basically had to take apart most of the engine). But even when it blew, she still got me home. And I love her for that.

What does this all mean? Well, nothing really. I don't plan on getting a new car anytime soon (though Eric wants me to... at least after I'm employed again). I know she's good for another 25,000 miles, at least! But I will say this... I'm 95% sure my next vehicle will be a Nissan again!

Two 2nd Interviews Down...

Okay... so as if I wasn't already torn about the job situation, now I am even more so. I should just be thrilled that I've had the two companies interested in me in this economy, let alone the fact that I had two follow-up interviews! And I'm trying not to get my hopes up about either. I mean, really... what are the odds of getting two offers? Slim, I'm guessing.

But anyway, my thought on which company I was leaning towards kind of flipped after the follow-ups. I'm not going into detail, but I think it might just be the actual people I interviewed with - it was different people involved and maybe it was just the different personalities. I don't know.

All I can do now is wait and see. It sounds as if both would require yet another meeting with different people if it progresses. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

I Love Auburn Football!

I just have to write a quick note about my team... I LOVE Auburn Football!!

I was so nervous last night about the game against South Carolina. First off, I hate Steve Spurrier. He's the devil. He always seem to have something up his sleeve... whether it's legit/fair always seems to be questionable. It was like that when he was at Florida, and he's like that with South Carolina.

And, well... South Carolina was making us look pretty bad for awhile. Though I guess some of the blame had to be on ourselves... some bad plays were definitely made! But in the end, we pulled it off and even managed to look really good in the last few minutes.

Whew... close one again!

One Week Down

Well, my first week of being unemployed has past and not much has changed. Things have happened... but no changes.

I've had two interviews so far, and both have requested follow up interviews. That's a good thing. But they are two extreme different sides of the ball, as far as what I'd be doing... so I'm kind of going back on forth on what I really want to do. And of course, I'm pessimistic with the thinking of that "it'll just be another two years before this happens again." It seems to be a cycle.

On the packing front... well, I can sum it up with an analogy. My house is like a bowl of pasta (or rice)... no matter how much I pack, it seems like what's left has only grown. It feels like the packing will never be done. Not a good feeling. I'll feel a little better when I can at least see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Other than that, I like the not having to wake up n the mornings. There's still an alarm for Eric... but I get to roll over and sleep a little longer. I'm so not a morning person... my natural wake up time is 9am... are there any jobs that will work with that??

Wendy's Wedding

Today was finally the big day... Wendy's Wedding!! She's been looking forward to this day for as long as I've known her, and more specifically, looking forward to marrying Chris for the past fours years or so...

The weather worked with us... no rain and only a little bit of humidity. It would've been nice to have more breezes, but all in all, it was nice. As the final preparations and set up wound down, the time had come. Wendy put her dress on and got all cinched up by her sister... and then it was time for her Dad to walk her down the LONG aisle from the pavilion, across the playground, and to her waiting groom.

The ceremony, itself, was very non-traditional... one of Chris' long time friends conducted the ceremony and it was filled with Dr. Seuss moments, baseball analogies, and even a unity margarita. And of course a monkey. But it suited the bride and groom perfectly and everyone enjoyed it for what it was - a very personalized ceremony of two people who belong to each other.

After the ceremony, we headed back to the pavilion for much of the traditional reception activities. There was the toast, the cake cutting, the first dance, father-daughter dance, the bouquet toss, and the garter toss. They had a 'photo booth' set up to serve as personalization for their guest book - take some goofy pictures and sign your well wishes on a scrap book page. This is where your personality got to shine trough in the celebration, complete with silly dress-up items you could add to your attire. And there were definitely some interesting ones taken...

So all in all, it was a great time and the perfect day for Wendy and Chris. I, personally, wish them the best. As I said in my toast... there will be many more roads travelled for them... and I know they will have fun on all of them.

A Victim of the Economy... Again

So amidst all of these good times with friends and family I've been having, a major downer was sent my way. Once again, I was laid off.

This time, however, I was given early notice (which I've now decided is a bad thing... I'll explain why later in this blog). Last week, after a major announcement from the company on Tuesday about needing to make cuts of all forms (due to an international debacle, basically - my opinion), I was called into a meeting with the head of HR and my boss. As soon as I saw who was calling me, I knew what was happening. This wasn't my first time. Sure enough... though I was surprised I wasn't leaving right then... I figured boxes would be waiting for me. But they wanted to smoothly transition things over. I understood. And I wanted my clients to be taken care of, not screwed over.

This turned out to be a very hard thing to do. Not the transitioning, but the coming in everyday, knowing that in less than two weeks you wouldn't be there. I couldn't tell anyone in my department - I knew I wouldn't be able to handle the questions, the sympathy, etc. I'd start crying at the thought of it, let alone being prompted! So it was kept quiet, only being shared with those work was being transitioned to. Everyday, I took a few things home to avoid having multiple boxes to take home today. Last Friday, one of the big bosses called me upstairs - he was completely torn up about the situation. He even teared up a little talking to me and offered whatever help and support he could give. And again today, another one of the top guys called me up... and he, too, teared up. It's hard seeing the bosses tear up - though you definitely get the sincerity of how they feel in the situation. That meant a lot to me, though it didn't make it any easier. I got similar sympathy and support from the few others that knew the past week or so.

Once I came to grips with the situation and the fact that it was happening to me for the second time in this crappy economy, I started to see the silver linings and bright spots to the whole situation. I'm good at that. For one, I'll be able to get fully packed and moved out of my house in Fishers... FINALLY! This is what I needed - a big chunk of time to just spend up there, making it happen. It also came to light the type of connections I have made in my industry. Pleasantly surprised by that. In fact, there are a couple of prospects due to these connections, so maybe it won't be as long before I'm employed this time. But it's scary to see how little is being posted out there...

So keep your fingers crossed for me. The good thing is I have someone to back me up this go around. Eric has already been a big support for me the past couple of weeks. And since we're married, I won't have to lose insurance coverage or completely lose an income. We'll just be a single income for awhile. Plus what little unemployment will give us.

Here I go again!

Wendy's Bachelorette Party

Last night was Wendy's Bachelorette Party, and it was a goooood time!

We started kind of early, meeting up at my house around 4ish. After we all got together and were ready to head out, we went down to Fountain Square to start the evening at New Day Meadery, a new wine tasting room that recently opened up. It's actually all honey wines... not meads, but honey wines. (They can't call them meads since they're mixed with fruits... your trivia for the day) We were catered to for the tasting and it was the perfect place to unwind before starting the evening.

From there, we went to Scotty's Brewhouse downtown. This worked out well... we were all about to get pretty much whatever we were craving and there were some crazy drinks to choose from, including one that had a popsicle in it! We hung out there until we knew downtown was ready for us to take it on... more specifically, we had to make sure Ike and Jonesy's was ready for us!

We may have waited a little too long - all the tables were taken. But we did find one within a half hour or so.... well, we really only needed it as a place to put our stuff. And a place to set our drinks, of course. Wendy wanted dance, though, and she definitely got to dance here! She hit the dance floor pretty quickly and only left to grab a drink every so often. That is, when she wasn't getting guys to buy her drinks. ha ha ha She took full advantage of her bachelorette status and pulled lots of guys onto the dance floor with her or had them buying her drinks. Or both. Needless to say, she had a good time. No... a GREAT time!

Mission Accomplished!!

Go, Team, Go!

Can we say "YAY!!" for football being back??

I know it's a sign of fall and cooler temperatures... but I love my football and I'm so glad it's back... FOR REAL! None of that preseason stuff!!

Auburn football started last night with a very nice win over Arkansas State! The team looks good this year - really good! So I'm excited and looking forward to an awesome season of Auburn Football. The local Auburn Club has a new hangout to watch the games this year up in Carmel... which makes for a bit longer drive from the house downtown. But it's worth it!

My Jags have really started yet... just pre-season. Which, of course, I didn't see any of up here. Nope... I live in Colts Country. And we rarely see any southern teams on TV here unless one of the midwest teams are playing them. Which is a major bummer for me. Maybe we should get the Sunday Ticket.... hmmm...

Regardless, football is back! And football makes me a happy girl.