Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes...

Well, life was very dull, and all of a sudden very eventful lately!

I interviewed for 2 jobs last week, and after being offered both, I took a job with Holland Public Schools. I am now a front office and special ed. office secretary/student aide with Holland Public Schools at the Maplewood Early Childhood Center! I'll be in the front office half the day and the special ed. office the other half, and patrolling the school, helping out in classrooms, and generally LOVING being around 5 year olds. This is a great foot in the door with the school district; I plan on starting my masters in education next year, so that I can use it for museum education or to teach high school history. The normal school schedule will be great if I start school again too! I'm so happy.

Packing up and having my last 2 days with Elena today and tomorrow, then heading to Holland Wednesday night to live with grandpa for a while and start full-time on Thursday!

Keeping hope alive...

For right now, I'm doing my best to stay hopeful about the job outlook. I work at the deli - unhappily, but I do it - 5 days a week and babysit little princess Elena the other two days, sometimes more (making it 2 jobs in a day). Babysitting is more like a treat than a job - I love taking care of her. She's such a wonderful baby, and her parents are awesome people; they pay me well, are flexible, and are so warm and welcoming. So, I work 6-7 days a week, but it's worth it to save up money & get out of the house.

I've applied for about 30 jobs in the Holland/Grand Rapids area, and although I've received 4 "position has been filled" emails, I'm staying positive and hoping for the best. We aren't moving to West MI for sure, but since we have a place to live there already (renting a family house) and lots of family support, it's a great option if we get jobs there.

I miss my friends so much. I got to see Stephie the other day; she was in Dearborn visiting her parents, so we met up in Novi at the mall and had a date. :) It was a very much needed break from work. I also got to have breakfast with Rachel, my roommate freshman year at WMU, a few weeks ago; it wasn't nearly enough time to catch up, but it was wonderful seeing her, and the crepes were wonderful. :)

Mark has been working for his dad at the shop, so he's doing a lot to help us save up some money too. I'm just hoping that something happens soon for us, because this time is frustrating... I feel like we're running in place, not moving forward at all, but still exhausting ourselves. And we need our own space again - we are just the kind of people who need to have our own nest and own space. We are both missing that.

Monday was my last day off for the next couple weeks, so Mark took me to the Detroit Zoo! We packed lunch and spent the day wandering the zoo together. We went to the Dinosauria exhibit, saw Mark's lemurs (his favorite), and had so much fun in the sun together.

So, that's basically it right now. Just trying to push through until something bigger and better happens. Staying as positive as possible. Working my tail off. Speaking of which, I'm down almost 15 pounds on South Beach! I'm wearing a loose size 14 now :) Feels good to be making progress!

-Emily

Movie Suggestion: "The King's Speech," (2010) Colin Firth, Helena Bonham Carter, Geoffrey Rush.  AMAZING movie about the Duke of York (who becomes King George VI after his older brother renounces the throne to marry a twice-divorced commoner) and the man who helps him overcome his speech impediment to lead England as World War II is beginning. This film was brilliantly made; funny, moving, and with some of the highest quality acting I have ever seen, especially out of Colin Firth.  (info from IMDB)

Music Suggestion: John Legend, "Once Again" (2006. The big single off this CD was "Save Room," which is a beautiful song, but my favorite is "Slow Dance." Great album to groove slow to, and remember the little things that make life worthwhile.

Lyrics, "Slow Dance" by John Legend.

Can we wait just a minute

Slow it down for a minute now baby
You're talkin loud
You're wilding out
Don't seem like my old lady
-
Lets go and play the song we used to play
Can we reignite the flame
Cause things just ain't the same
We can talk about the baby
We can talk until we're crazy
We can focus on it now
Or we can focus on it later
-
We can start another fight
We can argue and fuss all night
But I propose that we go to floor and we slow dance
Tonight I wanna dance
Can you do that with your man yea
Tonight I wanna groove
And let the music make you move
-
Move yea
Can we wait just a minute
Turn that tv off for a minute
Now politics and talkin' shit ain't really none of my buisness
Lets go and play the songs we used to play
On that old school radio
Let the music soothe your soul
-
Forget about the world
I'm groovin' with my girl
Forget about the news
Let's put on our dancin' shoes
Let's not talk about the war
Do we know what they fightin' for
I propose that we go to the floor and we slow dance
-
Tonight I wanna dance
Can you do that with your man yea
Tonight I wanna groove
And let the music make you move
Move yea yea
Move yea yea
-

I love it
I love it
I love it we're slow dancin together
-
I love it
I love it
I love it we're slow dancin together
-
I love it
I love it
I love it we're slow dancin together
-
I love it
I love it
I propose that we go to floor and we slow dance
-
Tonight I wanna dance
Can you do that with your man yea
Tonight I wanna groove
Let the music make you move

(from www.elyrics.net)

That damn horse keeps bucking me off! Getting back on again...

Once again, I fell off the wagon with posting; but I think that’s because I didn’t think I had anything to say… I have been in a sort of post-graduation depression, if that’s a real thing. I didn’t get a job in my field right away, and still haven’t, and even though I didn’t expect that, I still hoped for it. I felt like kind of a loser, actually, because I couldn’t even find a part time job in any field until last week.


So, I tried MN, and it didn’t work out. I was there almost 2 months and couldn’t even get a serving or retail job, and I applied for around 15 of those plus about 10 museum jobs. So, I packed up what I could take in my car and came back to Kalamazoo for the last couple weeks of our lease. Now, Mark & I are living with his parents in West Bloomfield as a “transitional thing” as Mark’s mom says to her friends.

I got a job at Hiller’s Markets, a specialty grocery store up the road from the neighborhood we are living in, working in the deli. I get about 30 hours per week, and I get my first paycheck this Friday, which I’m pretty excited for! I get paid every week, which is nice. I also started a babysitting job this week; I’m watching a beautiful 10-week old angel named Elena one or two days a week. She’s a wonderful baby & I love it! I just wish I could watch her more often. I also picked up a band camp instructor job the first week of August in Clarkston, MI, with my KKY brother Annie. That’ll be fun, and it pays nicely too, which isn’t very common anymore with all the music funding and programs being cut.

So, living with Mark’s parents; I miss my friends and family. VERY much. It’s tough on us because we’ve been used to having our own private space, but it’s a challenge that we’re facing together. The benefits of living rent-free still outweigh the issues and adjustments. I’m trying to work and save as much as possible so that we can get our own place. We have an opportunity that has presented itself in Holland that we’re excited about, and it’s almost a sure thing that it’ll work; I’m looking for and have applied for jobs in Holland, Grand Rapids, Muskegon, South Haven, and everywhere in between.

I thought for a long time that I never wanted to live in Holland again; it felt too small, too familiar, and I wanted to be somewhere else. Now, I have lived in Kalamazoo, MI – which was awful – and White Bear Lake, MN – which was pretty, but looked just like MI and had no jobs – and now West Bloomfield, MI – which is just weird, a strange combo of the neighborhood and city, lots of towns slammed up against each other – and I’m thinking now, Holland isn’t so bad. I mostly want to be near my family. I know it isn’t normal for a family (aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.) to all be in the same area and be so involved in each other’s’ lives, but I think we really have something special. I know I can travel and see new places, but I don’t want to miss my cousins growing up, or their kids, for that matter. I have always appreciated how unique my family is, and now I do even more. I can’t imagine only seeing them a few times a year.

So, I’m still in that “transitional thing,” but I’m working through it with a goal in sight.

I’ve started the South Beach Diet, and I feel more confident about this than I have with anything else I’ve tried. I’ve been eating better (as far as I knew) and exercising since I finished school, and I haven’t really lost weight, but I’ve capped it so I haven’t gained any more. I’m currently dancing around 195 pounds, and my goal is to lose 65 pounds and get down to 130 pounds. SB changes how I affect my body’s blood sugar through food combinations, and in understanding how food affects me on a chemical level is really helpful. So, I’m only on day 2, but I’m feeling different and I’m hoping that the 8-13 pounds I’m supposed to lose during the strict phase 1 (first 2 weeks) really does come off, because that will be the jump start I need to keep my motivation through phase 2 (which goes until I get down to my goal weight). I’ve been really inspired by my mom, who has been on a program that has helped her lose 56 pounds! Her goal is to lose 90 pounds, so she is almost 2/3 of the way there. I’m so proud of her and I keep picturing us both lean and smiling ear to ear, so I hope that becomes a reality for both of us.

So, for now, I’m changing how I eat, and trying to change how I look at myself. I’m incredibly comparative and I feel physically inferior to every thin girl I see. I’m trying to change that. I don’t know how long it’s going to take, but I think a combination of positive thinking and weight loss will really help me. I’ve always had low self-esteem but have shown confidence, so no one really knew how much I disliked my appearance; in the past year, the shield of confidence has been broken away by my life trials, and I’ve become very depressed with how I look. Mark has felt it, and he gave me quite a wake-up call recently. He actually said I was an unhappy person, and while I don’t think that’s entirely true, as far as comparing myself to other women and having such a terrible outlook on my appearance and weight, I understand where he is coming from. So I’m trying to really not care what other people think, but more importantly, not care what other people look like and how I think I look next to them. I need to be happy with myself and really look for the positives… but I’ve tried looking in the mirror and finding 5 beautiful things about myself many times over the past few years, and I usually can’t get past 1 or 2.

Time for my mid-morning snack and then a shower before my 1:30-10pm shift at the deli. I might be babysitting tomorrow, I’m not sure, but I don’t have to work at the deli, so it’s a day off as of right now. But if I get to babysit, that would be great too – the parents pay well and are really nice people, and the baby is such a joy.

Ciao-

Em

Movie Suggestion: “The Green Hornet” (2011) – Seth Rogen, Jay Chou, Cameron Diaz. Following the death of his father, Britt Reid, heir to his father's large company, teams up with his late dad's assistant Kato to become a masked crime fighting team. (from IMDB) I loved this – very funny, lots of great action, gadgets, and a strong storyline. Seth co-wrote it, and you can tell because his humor and drama both come through. Great movie for family, friends, and couples!



Music Suggestion: Michael Jackson, Michael Jackson's This Is It (or simply This Is It) (2009). This is a posthumous two-disc soundtrack album by American recording artist Michael Jackson, released by Epic Records and featuring previously released music, as well as six previously unreleased recordings. (from Wiki) The CD has a great classic Michael feel – beautiful ballads, pop tracks, some nice appearances by current artists, and a big hit, “This Is It.” I love this album, and I really suggest listening to it, because there’s something for pretty much anyone!

Photo update:

Mark & I, June 2011.

Drake enjoying the backyard during a visit to Mark's parents' house.

My girls <3

Robin, Mariah & I - Big Brothers Big Sisters

Mark & I enjoying the Westacres beach.

Fourth of July - fireworks at the beach.

Mark's 26th birthday - I made him cherry chocolate cheesecake!

Westacres beach at sundown.

Mom on her birthday - down over 50 pounds!

Watching our favorite show, Top Gear. :)

Getting back on the horse.

Well hey there all!

It's been a minute! My last semester was CRAZY, so I didn't get a chance to post. This one will be semi-short (text-light), but a longer one (and more after that) will be coming starting next week.

Today I am finishing packing for Minnesota. I'm moving out there to live with Mark & I's dear friends Jake and Nick, two brothers who have been friends with Mark since he was a little boy. I'm going in a sort of mini caravan with Jake & Nick's parents, Ed & Lynn; they have a big truck & are hooking their enclosed trailer up to it to haul my stuff out, since they are going out to visit the boys & they have to come right through Kalamazoo anyway. It's like a free U-Haul! :) Mark has a few summer classes to finish up before he heads out there in July, but since I was only working one day a week at Hot Topic and I've applied for a few jobs out there, I felt it was time to head out & get a job, and get settled in. I can't get too settled because we're painting when Mark gets out, but I'm excited to be in a new space and to see new things. We're moving to White Bear Lake, MN, which is 17 minutes outside of Minneapolis and 25 minutes from St. Paul. It's an amazing opportunity that Jake has presented to us, and we can't pass it up!
I've said goodbye to my family and most of my friends, and strangely I didn't cry once. It's not that I won't miss everyone - I'll miss them terribly - I think I'm just really ready to do this. I think my heart and spirit have been cooped up in gross Kalamazoo far too long - in West Michigan, as much as I love it, for too long - and I'm ready for BIG changes.

So, I'm taking a break from packing & cleaning, and burning some CD's for my 10+ hour drive tomorrow while Mark is playing with his fish tank. :)

Well... A LOT has happened since my last post on September 30, 2010!

Mark & I were engaged at the time of my last post, but my engagement ring (which was apparently "too delecate" for me, as the jewelry store guy put it) broke 3 times, so I got a new one, and now I have a beautiful ring set. Here's the new one!

The new ring - I love it!

We both like it better than the other one, and it has held up beautifully to my (apparent) abuse.

What else...? Well, to be honest 2011 hasn't been great for us. There have been a lot of losses - a friend of Mark's from the car clubs, another friend's brother (crushed by a car he was working on), and the most difficult for us, Rosco, our ferret. She & Ellie are together now.



Ellie on top, Rosco on bottom.

Mark's car keeps having problems, I lost my job at the pizza place & haven't been able to get back on my feet financially, and school was a nightmare for both of us... But, I graduated!!

April 30, 2011

I had my last spring break of my undergrad & went to Frankenmuth for my 24th birthday with Mark & his parents. I also went to a Pistons game to celebrate my birthday and my cousin Liz's 23rd birthday, the day after mine, with my family. That was the first week of March.

Th weather has been CRAZY, which has caused some problems for us. Our apartment is so janky... The heat turns on but wouldn't turn off, and our AC is old & eats up SO much energy to even start cooling one room, so with the outside temp fluctuating, so we've been super hot or super cold all year. And, the winter storms and rain have ripped down trees & power lines... And our apt complex STILL hasn't cleared the down trees from February.

These are those same down trees today:

3 months later.

We've also had thunderstorms and hail storms.

That was a fun day - rain, hail & sunshine, simultaneously. Realllllly creepy.

At the end of March, I represented my chapter of Kappa Kappa Psi as our delegate to District Convention in Merrillville, IN. It was an incredible weekend, and combined with my being active again this semester & really getting back into KPsi, I was re-awakened as a brother & solidified some friendships into concrete.



Stephie & Lo - my team.

These last few months have shown me who my real friends & family are... These two are very special to me!

April was the final push toward graduation. It was a very tough month. I worked at a serving job that was awful - the worst job I've ever had - because the manager was just terrible. He was verbally abusive, and I didn't make any money because he had preference with other servers so I got screwed out of tables every shift. I quit, even though I didn't have anything else lined up, and chose to spend my time with the people I love before moving.

So, I've graduated, and I'm off to a new adventure. I'll be posting more often now, especially since this will be a great way to keep my family and friends posted on what's going on. I like this more than FB for the more personalized feel. So, keep up with me, and wish me luck! The next 2 months will be tough without Mark & the babies - Drake & Isis - but I know it's the best for us right now & it'll go by super fast.

Emily


Movie Suggestion: "Toy Story 3" (2010, voices of Tim Allen & Tom Hanks) - We finally saw this, & it's every bit as good as the first two films. It's a fresh story, very funny, and ties the story of Woody, Buzz & Andy together in a way that give closure but doesn't disappoint. We watched a documentary called "The Pixar Story" right before it, so we have an even bigger appreciation for the Disney-Pixar combo now.

Music Suggestion: A Fine Frenzy, "Bomb in a Birdcage" (2009) & "One Cell in the Sea" (2007) - She is just phenomenal. If you're looking for great tracks for summer drives, beach trips, cookouts, cleaning, painting, relaxing, or anything that your enjoy.... She's wonderful. Some pop-y upbeat tracks, but mostly just really solid & interesting lyrics over beautiful melodies.