Tuesday, May 17, 2011

And The Job Search Continues....

So I've been stuck in a rut thinking that my resume was fine, my cover letters were fine, everything I was doing was great but people just didn't have any interest in hiring me. I was disillusion . I finally sent my resume to someone who was willing to be honest with me about it to help me out instead of just saying, "yeah this is great, I have no idea why you don't already have a job!" Unfortunately I read the message about how bland and unattractive my resume was right as I was trying to sleep. So I'm thinking I'll forget about it and wait until morning to work on it, but after an hour of trying to fall asleep I worked myself up to a full debilitating panic mode. I was freaking out. I'm thinking crap I sent this awful thing to all of these jobs that I really want! Poor me! What can I do about this?!
I am an idiot. I thought that for some reason my resume would stand out in a pile of hundreds because ya know I'm me I'm great I am qualified I am passionate. I realized that my cover letter and resume were definitely not a very good reflection of my awesomeness and what I can really offer an organization. I also realized how many dummies are out there like me searching through careerbuilder, indeed, michigantalent, ect. We are wasting our time. It is hard even with excellent credentials to be discovered.
I am so happy that I don't feel like one of those assholes anymore. Thanks to an excellent BLOG, a no nonsense friend, and the internet in general I am now miles closer to my career. I honestly don't know what I was thinking. My career is one of the most important things in the world to me and now I'm finally awake, alert and ready to fight for it! 

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Emo

For some reason everything has been hitting me really hard lately. I feel instantly guilty about very little things, people's comments have been throwing me into some really negative thought patterns, even physically I feel like I'm feeling things more than usual. I don't know what's up with me, but I've been feeling seriously weird and I don't like it.

On the brighter side I had a seriously fantastic weekend with my hubby & my friends. Nick & I tried out geocaching on friday, we kinda failed but we are definitely intrigued and going to try again. Saturday started off a little rough, but ended up being a great time. We went to the gun range where I finally got to shoot MY new gun, I absolutely love it! The kick-back is no where near as intense as the hubster's 9mm, which resulted in my actually hitting what I was aiming for most of the time,  I bragged about this all day, I literally could not contain my excitement!

After all the bang bang bang, and a little yard work, we joined Aud in a game of Pandemic (super nerdy board game) that we won for the first time ever! Unfortunately Nick had to work in the morning which meant he left early but then us girls decided on a spur of the moment girls night, which featured booze, make-up, curling irons, and prom dresses. I was skeptical at first, but I have to admit it ended up being a blast!

Mother's Day went pretty well my mom cooked us an awesome southern style breakfast from her mother's old recipes. It was scrumptious! Then she went went out for the day and I watched Blue Valentine with my sister. I highly recommend this movie, I really enjoyed the point of view and the realistic romantic story line. I had been waiting for this movie to come to dvd for months, the two actors lived together for the entirety of the film, it makes you wonder what might be a little more than acting.
My house is clean today which is really comforting, and to top that off I'm making a sort of open faced chicken pot pie. Tomorrow I'll add the recipe!

<3

Friday, May 6, 2011

the goings on

So yesterday was cinco de mayo, yay! Not... I was officially diagnosed with a severe case of TMJ by my brand new dentist who has one of the most bizarre dental practices ever. It is located in a renovated Victorian style house and the inside resembled a country cottage, plus there was an adorable cockier spaniel  running around the office. The dentist himself was pretty impressive he is not only a dentist but loves to dable in neuroscience and appears to be working on a self help book.


O and can I mention that the dental hygienist was pregnant, o and 13 people I know are also expecting. What is going on? I don't really know that many people but somehow 10% of the people that I know are knocked up     ( or have knocked someone up).

What is going on? Is this the age that everyone (married or not) decides to throw contraceptive to the wind and reproduce? Most of the pregnancies are not planned, or at least that's what these people claim. It just boggles my mind. How can it be so easy to get pregnant while supposedly taking precautions to prevent the pregnancy. Extremely healthy couples only have a 25% chance of becoming pregnant each month when they are actively trying, so it doesn't seem to add up to me. I've been "sexually active" for  8 years and have managed not to even begin to grow a fetus even though I've experienced a few slip ups. This is just blowing my mind!
In other not so pleasant news, I still haven't gotten a single call back for an interview and I've applied to ton of jobs. I thought that college was a good investment in a future career, but I'm starting to think that this may be some profitable lie that I and many other high school graduates are suckered into believing. I wouldn't trade my college experience or the many skills & facts I've learned, but come on. I thought that a degree meant something, I thought it meant I wouldn't have to worry about being able to get a full time job where I make enough money to get by. I thought it meant I could be selective and have a career that brings me a sense of worth, and is also monetarily worth something. I can't help but feel like a sucker, I'm coming out of 5 years of stress, anxiety, likely thousands of pages of reading, panic about assignments and exams, a sometimes stressful commute, sacrifice of social life, and of course a giant pile of debt, basically empty handed. I'm hoping that this is just me overreacting, I'm sure within the next 3 months I will find a way to make a living, but will it be a job that satisfies my need to help the community, will it be interesting and challenging? I'm leaning towards no. I hope I feel like an idiot a month from now when I'm starting a wonderful job that has meaning and look back at this pessimistic blabber and laugh.



Hoping & Dreaming

<3

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

...

I've been less than a "domestic diva" lately, so I decided to go all out today. I actually put make-up and jewelry on today ++++. Then went out and got baking supplies & cleaned most of my house. I got this great recipe from Budget Bytes one of my favorite food blogs in the world. The Lemon Spice Cake is actually only 155 Calories a slice! So it's diet friendly. I altered the recipe a bit so here it is, with a few mediocre photos I took with my mediocre IPhone camera...

1.5 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp salt
1 med lemon
1 Tbsp vegetable shortening, oil or butter
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 cup water
1 cup powdered sugar

That's the original recipe, I added 1 tsp of vanilla to both the cake mix and the frosting....

STEP 1: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine the flour, granulated sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, salt, cloves and lemon zest. Stir until everything is well combined.

STEP 2: Make two wells in the dry ingredients and place the cider vinegar in one and shortening,oil or butter in the other (melt the shortening or butter first). Pour the water over everything and stir just until everything is wet. There may still be lumps but that is okay, just make sure there are no large pockets of dry stuff on the bottom.

STEP 3: Pour the batter into a loaf pan or 8x8 baking dish that has been sprayed with non-stick spray. Cook for 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. The batter will be more shallow in a square baking dish and will therefore cook faster than in a loaf pan. Keep an eye on the top, if it starts to crack, it is probably done. Let cool on a wire rack.

STEP 4: While the cake is cooling, make the lemon glaze. Place the powdered sugar in a small bowl and stir in the juice from the lemon. Depending on how much juice is in your lemon, you may not need all of it. Wait until the cake has cooled before pouring on the glaze or else the heat will cause the glaze to slide right off. 

                                                           Mixed Dry Ingredients
                          I made 3 wells, one for butter, one for apple cider vinegar, one for vanilla extract
                                                Added all the water and used a mixer, because I hate lumps
                                            Before I popped them into the oven....
                                                        After baking.... Yum!
                                                      Use the left over lemon to make your glaze...

                                                 whisk it to eliminate lumps...
  I topped mine with strawberries because I had them on hand, and a mix of lemon and strawberries makes my heart melt...


I made 3 loafs one for me, one for mom and dad and one for Aud. I'm sure they'll enjoy them and I can't wait to try mine. This recipe was pretty easy and quick, but I'm impatient and hate waiting for my cakes to cool. I also learned that I hate hate hate zesting 3+ lemons in a row my hands hurt : ( but I think it will be well worth it when I stuff this deliciousness in my mouth.


Way to go domestic MO!

<3