also new in 2010....

...me, budgeting.

Anne's dad has recently offered to help me organize my finances better. Ha. (...or at all? Don't tell Fred!) Annnddddddddd before we meet to discuss my own personal FredSheet in order to have my finances in tip top shape for the days of graduate school ahead, I have done some preparing myself.

By

DeSTRoyING mY CrEDit CaRD. Sigh. I'm not really a credit card "user" per se. I usually just use it if it's no interest/no fees for a certain amount of months, then pay it off before the interest starts. HOWEVER. Circumstances being as they are (I am broke), I've had to make sure to do the grown up thing and (a) pay off the remaining balance before I am broke-er and (b) take back this beloved item that I was hoping would go on sale (again) in order to re buy it cheaper. (Does this make me seem crazy? Maybe). SO. I decided to take it back all together.

Sigh. Lots of emotional pep talking to get me to go through with the act of this treasure being sent back. Oh the colors! Oh the vintage look and feel!?


HOWEVER. 2010 is a new year. It is a new year for lots of firsts. New school. New state. New responsibilities. And so, I wanted to get rid of the card in order to get rid of the temptation to buy before I have the means to pay. If I want it; I can save for it.

I feel like this emotional fortitude is going to be great for my skin.

A Little Artsy

So, one of the true delights of my life is working at A Little Artsy with Casey Wiegand. Not only is she one of the most gracious and welcoming people I have ever come across, but the job is amazing. I love the ridiculousness of the kids and their amazing creative brains.

If you are friends with Casey & Chris, or would just like to spread the love of A Little Artsy located in Snider Plaza in Dallas, please feel free to copy this HTML into your java script code (Blogspot users: Click "Add a Gadget", "HTML code" in your Layout section and copy and paste the code below) to have a button for your blog:

<a href="http://www.alittleartsy.com/" ><img src="http://i597.photobucket.com/albums/tt52/JennieCBower/logo-1.jpg"/></a>

considering

Welp.

So, I interviewed for a job this week that I thought would be perfect for me. Like, literally. I didn't even have to verbally manipulate my "skill set" to make it sound like I had experience for the job I was applying to. I mean, I have it. AND I could say with good, clear conscience that "yes, I would love to do this." ( I mean, working at an agricultural credit bank....I might have said those words with my fingers crossed?)

But, I didn't get it. And I'm feeling torn. I mean, part of me (the very realistic, sensible part) is so alarmingly UNsurprised that it didn't happen. Great jobs are just hard to come by, apparently, unless you know someone/are related to them (thank you, Stan Bower).

But the other part feels pretty disillusioned still by the fact that I feel like I would have been so perfect for this job. I have the experience; I have the skills. And I would feel like my work in the day-to-day things actually mattered to someone.

So there I am: Somewhere in the middle between feeling unsurprised and more-than-slightly pessimistic and feeling terribly let down at how weird/unpredictable life is.

HOWEVER.

This is where I remember that the friggin' Creator of the UNIVERSE (..."universe" spoken in aforementioned "2010" space agey-voice....) is actually on my side.

On.
My.
Side.

Lalalala

"Consider the lilies of the field, how they neither toil nor spin. Yet even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these...."

so this is the new year

The year in pictures....



I turned 25. Yikes.


Visited Perfect-ville. I mean, Pella, IA in a trip back in time.


Grand Canyon-ing with the sister.


Tried (and mostly failed) to learn to surf in San Diego.

Moved to Dallas.

Of note for 2009: I actually drove across America. Drove. Across. From North Carolina to San Diego. So. That's interesting I guess. My favorite view had to have been the Grand Canyon. So weird. It is essentially just a big hole in the ground, but it manages to be breath-taking.

The trip across the good U.S. of A did, however, also involve a lot of this:



And now for resolutionssssss. Well, in reality, for me, they only last a good six months. See here.

Scratch that, I'm still "pretty" good about Diet Cokes (the possible source of brain shrinking). I only have them a couple of times a week. Which isn't as good as my resolution (no diet cokes whatsoever), but is a step up from 2008 (a diet coke every day), and a step in between the slacking off of 2009's resolution (diet cokes only on the weekends). All that nonsense just to say: I'm average about resolutions.

But I actually failed miserably at using 2009 to read the Bible from cover to cover. And flossing. Oops. Well, maybe not entirely true, after my multi-hundred dollar visit to the dentist (*** me giving the bird to powers behind the lack of health/dental insurance in my life ***) , I got to flossing again. And someone else is going to have to tell me how I fared about the speaking more kindly resolution. Although, I know I have NOT been speaking kindly to Dallas drivers on I-75 (jerks).

I can definitely say I have been painfully and brutally honest in general about my life/feelings. Annnnnnnnnnnnd there is more than one person out there that can testify to that.

However! 2010 is a new year, and not just a new year that is starting to sound space-agey. It is a new year for ideals that are mostly ignored entirely by mid-February.

And my resolutes are:

Hmm....Well, I need to give this some thought. After all, if I'm going to change something entirely about my life for 2010 ("2010" said in creepy, spacey-echo effect), I'm going to have to give it more than 2.4 seconds of thought.

I'll keep you posted, world.

adventures in sub land

I am a substitute teacher.

That's what I do now to make ends meet.

(Unrelated tangent: Until sometime fairly late in life - late enough for me not to disclose the time/date - I thought the expression was "make ends meat," and had convinced myself that "ends meat" was a colloquialism for the meat/food/sustenance that you have when you're really poor or when the pantry's almost empty. End tangent.)

My first adventure in substituting was 5th grade. Also to note: 5th graders are tall. They are also scary when they are "bowing up" to you. What does the term "bowed up" mean, you ask? I didn't know either, until one of my students "bowed up" to me as I was telling him that his partner - who had just previously hurled an eraser at the back of my head - was going to have to sit outside for the rest of the class. Upon hearing that he would have to be working alone, this young hoodlum "bowed up" straight to my face. This meant, that he jerked his shoulders and elbows ("bows") back to feign as if he was going to hit/attack me bodily. If he hadn't been just barely at my shoulder height, I might have been more alarmed than I was.

But, I was ok. My demeanor changed/morphed/matured instantly as I became not a fairly controlled, kind substitute that they had never met, but was now an angry, mean, scary old lady who would punish them until their grandchildren felt it, who heard herself say with a constricted throat and a hoarse whisper, "GET. OUT. SIDE."

It was only after I called the ISS teacher that I learned the expression "bowed up" when I demonstrated what he did.

Eek.

I guess I should start wearing heels and scary spectacles to make myself look older/more menacing.

Sigh. Two days of work and I'm ready for Thanksgiving already.

in review

I've come to learn a few new things about living here:

1. I drive way too slow. And by "way too slow" I mean I generally, if not literally, fear for my life every time I think about getting on the feeder road to Central. I am probably going 40 miles UNDER the "unposted" speed limit. Very scary. Big Hummers and tiny little Mercedes whiz by me with only the glimpse of a little birdie that flies in my eye. And then clunky El Caminos, which can't exactly make quick decisions like one to cut me off, instead just ride Mrs. Onasis' tail like she's 2 cent lady of the night. I was backing out of my parking spot in the mall the other day, and some lady laid/slept/camped out on her horn at me, because apparently, I was blocking her way. (Though, if I remember correctly, she wasn't there when I start to back out...) I responded by laying/sleeping/camping out on my horn as I backed out completely (now facing her) and waved emphatically and smiled genuinely. She was very confused.

2. Finding a job issssssssss hard? Dear Starbucks, Unnamed Company, Anthropologie, Free People, Wal Mart, Whole Foods, Richardson ISD, Saltgrass Steak House, Merry Maids, Pier 1: Your swift rejections make me feel like I'm not competent enough to be left home alone or to use a knife without supervision.

3. In general, I have a love/hate relationship with the Federal government. Last month, I received a hefty tax return check - FROM 2007 (!?). Weird, I thought, whilst I skipped to the bank. Love. Then today, I get in the mail two notices from the federal and state governments saying there's been a mistake and I instead OWE THEM money from 2007. (2007. 2007!? I mean, really. I've moved on, haven't you?) Hate. So, that's awesome. In addition to the limb and left kindney I owe to my Dentist (how i love and hate thee as well), my mechanic, and now, Uncle Sam, I am feeling like it could be beans and rice for dinner for a while now.

4. In lighter news: I went to register for my first semester as a seminary student. Woot. I love that master's programs just start right out with interesting classes, and you don't have to sit through 7 semesters of general education survey crap just to get to the good stuff. Hello, abnormal psychology.

More updates soon. Can't wait for Thanksgiving - the best holiday (sorry anne, the one true thing we disagree on)

the lone star state

hello new world.

hello texas and warmth and brother and sister and "the stars and stripes" and blue bell and huge southern hair.

Well, it's been about a week since I've moved. Yes! I finally moved! My sister should be jumping for joy somewhere back in the Show-Me state.

A few things just kinda fell together, and with the help of a very outspoken, self-knowing sister, I have been booted from the nest. I loved being at home, even despite of all the jokes. It basically gave me a safe place to land after YWAM filled with family, comfort, and a year-long hands-on cooking school (praise Him).

Though the lucrative business of administrative assisting was very...lucrative...I have been praying and asking for new direction for awhile now.

So. Here I am in Big D. (THOUGH IT IS NOT THE SAME WITHOUT ANNE. UGH. THAT'S A WHOLE OTHER POST IN ITSELF.)

Starting school in January for a master's in counseling.
Living with a dear friend from college.
Interviewing at a few choice (and not-so-choice) locations.
Believing that the Lord sees me still.

That's my update.

I do miss my family

and this girl

(who is one of the funniest people I have ever met. ever.)
And Fall - generally

(Texas is perpetually summer/spring....and so not many beautiful treeeeesss)


But things are going well.

New faces.

New adventures.

Buahaha, ok, Lord. Adventure in the Lone Star State.

Ready.

Set.

Go.