I guess that’s where I am right now. I am working full time for a company that will give me excellent experience and knowledge of the governmental, behind the scenes communication between community agencies and part time I am starting to work one on one with seniors who are facing crisis situations. It is, without a doubt, the perfect blend of roles for me. Communications and client-focused work are two things I am so passionate about in my career. Seriously, people – I’m vibrating at a high frequency just thinking about it! 

I’m also still working at Boots (are you following? I currently have three jobs. THREE.), but I resigned today. And you want to know how funny life is? I got another job offer today from a guy that was catering at Boots. I think I’m going to take him up on it to – just catering events once a month or something. What can I say? He’s a seafood chef and I told him he could pay me in oysters. He thought I was joking. No, I take my seafood very seriously.

No related posts.

Seriously. I hate it. January and I? Not friends. We don’t get along. Never have, perhaps never will. Many people use January as their starting point. A launching pad for new adventures. A time for resolutions and reflection. For me, making new resolutions is a reminder of the old resolutions I haven’t fulfilled from years past. Reflection reminds me of not just the high points of the year, but also the low points.

I wish I could tell you that this past January was different. I wish I could tell you that I stepped up my game, told myself “I rock!” and focused my efforts on bettering myself personally and professionally. But I can’t, because I didn’t. Instead, I looked up articles on seasonal affective disorder and how my medication could be negatively affecting my emotions and physical condition. I tried to find a way to blame my feelings on anything other than myself. I slept too much. I watched too much crappy daytime television. I put off reaching out to old co-workers who reached out to me after I lost my job. I imagined being a better person. I imagined reinventing myself. I imagined how it will feel when I’m done school. When I find a job. When we buy a house. When we start a family. If. When.

I found myself not caring anymore. One year ago we had a plan. It fell apart. I was upset for a long time, but in January? In January I didn’t care. I didn’t care whether we ever move out of our little apartment. I didn’t care whether we ever buy a house. If I ever find a job. If we ever start our family.

But it’s February now.

February is my new starting point. I believe that the ‘new year’ is arbitrary – every day is the beginning of a new year, technically. The first 9 days of this month have held more promise and more achievements for me than the last 3 months have. I’ve finished school projects early, had an interview for a very exciting job, and found some job prospects in unexpected places. I want things again. I care about getting those things. The house is cleaner. I’m organizing my stuff. I hired my own personal cheerleader. I’m making an effort in areas of my life that I never have before. I have time to knit, and that just makes me happy. I was able to give my first knitted baby hat to Hailey – she has to grow into it a little more, but it is just adorable.

Now that, my friends, is a reason to start over.

Related posts:

1. By order of the management!
2. A Busy life = A Happy life
3. January, I hate you.

Photo credit: http://dearjanesample.wordpress.com/2008/02/12/cube-decorating-101/

BORING! Although I love decorating magazines and websites – why, hello Jessica Jones – I am not very good at decorating!! I think it comes from years of student homes where how many empty beer cases you had in your front doorway was more important than how cute your room was.

So I need you!!! How can I make my cubicle sparkle with fun, and not be so stark and boring??? I want it to say zen, happiness, and be a welcoming place for me to arrive at every morning and to bring my clients to.

Help me! What does your desk look like? What have you decorated it with to make it exude your personality and be an enjoyable place to be?

No related posts.

Whoops, back to business!  I try not to write about work and what goes on/does not go on here mainly because 1. I love my job and therefore there isn’t a lot to gripe write about; 2. Everyone at work knows that I blog and 3. I would not be surprised if some of our customers have been here (Hi!).  Many of them are bloggers themselves and hey, curiosity compels them!  We’re an online company and it’s just something that comes with the job.  I try to keep my online work life and online personal life separate, but it can be really hard.

Many (okay, the majority) of our customers are from the US and are therefore enjoying the Memorial Day holiday.  In fact, I’ve had people wishing me a ‘happy holiday weekend!’ since Thursday.  They seem to forget that we don’t have a holiday – we’re Canadian! I guess I can’t blame them.  The only reason I know it’s an American holiday is because I look forward to the slower day at work. 

We enjoyed our long weekend last week when we had Monday off.  You know, when our customers sent multiple emails and left multiple voicemails wondering where the heck we were and why we weren’t doing our jobs.  Of course, this throws us off on Tuesday and it takes a good part of the day to catch up.  Unfortunately this happens every time there is a Canadian holiday.  I’ve even had to reply to an email that presumed (very wrongly) that we had gone out of business.

Ninety-nine percent of the time people are very understanding and will often ask if you had a good weekend.  The other day I spoke to someone who was a little…skeptical.

Customer: Was no-one in the office on Monday? I called several times and didn’t get an answer.

Me: Monday was a Canadian holiday.

C: “Oh really? What holiday?”

** I had to pause here to remember the official name of the holiday as it is usually called by it’s informal name ”May 2-4″ – indicating that it occurs around the 24th of May and that there are a lot of 2-4′s consumed.

M: “Victoria Day!”

C: “Victoria…who?”

(sheesh)

M: “Queen Victoria.”

C: “…Oh.”

Related posts:

1. Random lovin
2. Birthdays, vacations, straight A's, weddings, girl crushes, and other things that make life worth living.
3. Because I love to make you laugh.

Currently I am deciding what Calgary-Leah will be like … I thrive on change and actively pursuing new and exciting adventures.

Hometown friends – there will be some sort of gathering chez Bontje farm on Sunday, so pop on over if you have time! I will keep you updated concerning times.

P.S. Don’t forget to vote for us!

Related posts:

1. National Champs!
2. Feeling Scrab-U-Lo-Riffic! FiveBlondes + Scrabulous = Love
3. Fiveblondes reunited!

I just about jumped up and down yelling “Yes! I would love that!” D has been working for this major company (he doesn’t want me to blog about his personal details and I respect that) on contract as a technician for over 1.5 years. He truly is one of the best technicians they have on staff – numbers don’t lie! In fact, he is one of the best techs in Canada. His boss loves him and told me that they are making an exception for him. He’s exceptional

What does this mean for us? Aside from job security for D, he’ll be getting a company van in a few weeks and will no longer have to worry about mileage on our personal car or moving parts in and out of the car every weekend. We’ll get benefits, which will help pay for my prescriptions. We are now in a much better position to buy a house (!!) and start a family (!!) – the wedding is 367 days away!

On the blog-front, the great Google gods bestowed a pagerank of 4 upon FiveBlondes.com yesterday. I couldn’t believe it! Mom’s website, Couturesmith, is PR3.

Finally, I want to know if you’re on Twitter. I am! At first I decided to keep it separate from my blogging activities, but I’ve had a change of heart. You can find me @ericablonde. I’m having a lot of fun getting to know some of my favorite bloggers even better and keeping up with the latest news on the social media / SEO / intrawebz front. I’m the kind of person who likes to be standing in the middle of a crowded room listening to everything going on around me. Sometimes that’s what Twitter feels like to me.

Finally, I’m thinking of writing some book reviews. I’ve been reading a LOT lately and have discovered some fantastic authors that you MUST know about. I’m excited already!

Related posts:

1. Movin on Out!

My co-worker Karen sent me this cartoon the other day at work (we send each other Savage Chicken cartoons daily, not really sure why, but it has turned into an office ritual for a few of us). I personally think it is hilarious! Mostly because I always ask her if she has read my blog… and because the joke’s on her because she does read it every day! HI KAREN!!!!

Messed up boyfriend quote of the day:

Kent: “I love you, Maeve Binchy.”

Micaela: “…That’s not my name. That’s an author…”

Kent: “I know, but it sounds like your name.”

Kent and Micaela: “Miiiiicccaaaaeeeeeellllaaaa Boooonnnnnjjjjaaayyyyy” “Maaaaaaeeeevvvvvveeeee Biiinnnccchhhhhyyyy” *repeat for about 5 minutes*

Related posts:

1. Strange Coincidences
2. I'll Let You Buy Salt if You Buy Me a Diamond Ring

At work I felt as though the day was crawling by, nothing too abnormal for me though. At 1:40PM I called my cousin’s work to sign up for a Yoga class, but no one answered and their machine said that they work M W F, 10AM-2PM, I thought it was weird that no one answered, but let it go and decided to try again on Friday. As 5 o’clock neared I noticed that it seemed to be getting very dark! Finally 5 o’clock arrived! I changed into my barn clothes to drive to the barn and do chores and jumped in the car and started driving. Then I looked at the clock… 6PM! What the heck? No wonder my day took forever, I was at work for 9 hours instead of 8! I actually had to say to myself, 9-5 to remind me that I normally work until 5PM and not 6PM. My computer at work had somehow during the day reverted back 1 hour, how that happens I have no idea, and I know that when I started work that day it said 9am. Plus I checked the clock this morning to make sure I wasn’t crazy, and it said 8am, when it was really 9am. Let’s just say I’ve been checking my watch a lot today..

Needless to say on Friday I will be leaving work an hour early.. Silly silly me.

No related posts.

The title of this post sums up my feelings lately. Mostly I’ve been really tired which was probably my body’s way of telling me that I was getting sick and now I have a full blown cold. Yuck. Why is it that people always get colds when the seasons change? I love when the season’s change, because by the end of each season I am always ready for a change. And especially this season because with the weather changing to fall it means that the wedding becomes closer (32 days!). Not feeling inspired was also my reason for not writting in the blog lately. I just don’t have anything interesting to say, so I decided to not say anything at all.

Also I am not feeling very inspired at work. There are no challenges here, as I sit and wait for agents to come in and give me work to do. And that gets me to thinking about how long I should stick it out in this job for. It is fairly well paying for a job fresh out of University but as my Aunt described the way I was feeling the best, while I was talking to her on the weekend. She said: “You are just getting out of University and you need to be challenged and learn new things” She said that my job seems like a job for someone who is slowing down in their career and I would agree with her. What to do What to do.

Related posts:

1. Feeling Scrab-U-Lo-Riffic! FiveBlondes + Scrabulous = Love

Last week marked the beginning of my last ever school year. Well, school half-year. Or, technically, half of a half school year.  Anyway, I’m taking 3 evening classes (each worth a half-credit) so I can finally get that darn piece of paper indicating that I am a university graduate.  I survived.

Unfortunately, these evening classes coupled with work are draining my reserves.   My week starts out like this:

10-6 work; 7-10 class.

This is my Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday schedule until December.

When you think about it, December really isn’t that far away.  This means that I’ll only have the time from now until December to keep up with an increasing workload, reading for 3 classes, assignments for said classes, and study for various tests and exams.  Not to mention the other things going on, such as my dwindling social life, and the fact that the new seasons of Grey’s Anatomy and The Office start next week.  Thankfully, on Thursdays.

Related posts:

1. I just want the piece of paper.
2. This is your life, I get copied keys
3. The wedding planning begins…?