Jimmy!

Jimmy Buffett kicked off the summer concert series in 40 degree weather last night!  My friend Matt drove in and took me to the concert.  (Thank you Matt!!!) We had a grand time, he is still at the house nursing a pretty wicked hang over.  I am at work!  Sucker.  I must admit, I did sleep in this morning and probably slept through the worst of the hangover.  

While I was in and out of sleep I was thinking about 2008.  Part of me feels like it has been SUCH a DIFFICULT year.  Unexpectedly losing my job and then severely injuring myself are not the harbingers of good things!  I realized I was only focusing on the negative things that had happened.

I started going through all of the good things that have happened this year.  I have traveled to Cancun, Chapel Hill, Raleigh, Richmond and DC, I have done a lot of rewarding work in the garden, I've started dating again, I've been to a Bruce Springsteen AND Jimmy Buffett concert.  Not a bad year at all and frankly, it's off to a better start than most.

Wow - So This is what living feels like!

I have been so focused on work and building my career the past 2.5 years that I had begun to neglect parts of my life.  I was working 10+ hour days and loving it.  Only, I forgot to do little things that were important to me.  I forgot to go to the gym/work out.  I forgot to spend lots of time with my friends.  I forgot to garden.  I forgot to take my dog for walks.  I had even forgotten to read! (For as long as I can remember, I have almost always read at least a chapter every night before bed.) I forgot to be involved.

Since THE LAYOFF I have been slowly regrouping.  I've started to exercise again. I've started to cook.  It's even easier now that the stove I burned up has been replaced.  I've started to think about dating again.  Stop - let me rephrase that.  I had started to think about it back in the fall when the blast from my past popped back into my life.  Even though he wasn't an option for me (pesky morals), I had such a good time with him (as always) that I remembered that it was FUN to flirt and go to dinner and have drinks, with someone other than your friends and family.  I had forgotten.

Here's to remembering!!

Helluva Year

About a three weeks ago, I was cooking dinner and caught a pot, and then my stove on fire. In the process of putting it all out, I severely burned my right hand. Yes, I'm right handed. The only insurance I have is through COBRA, so I'll be paying $400/month for insurance. Ugh. This is the second challenge to overcome.   The good news is that it is healing - slowly - and pretty soon I should have full use back and no longer be walking around with a mummified right hand.

What will the third challenge be???

The World is my Oyster...pass the horseradish!

I am very fortunate that I have never been through a lay-off until now.  But my reaction hasn't been normal!  The first two or three days, I was pretty upset.  Most of the upset occurred when my friends were being wonderful.  Go figure!  They have been great.  No one let me spend a night alone last week.  The phone keeps ringing and the emails and cards of encouragement keep coming. 

I am wondering if I have lost my mind because I am SO INCREDIBLY ESTATIC that I don't have to work at The Company any more!

The economy is about to hit a nasty road bump so I should be pretty worried about not having a job, but for some crazy reason I'm not.  I chose to believe that this gift of time is important right now.  When I moved to my City, I moved for a J-O-B, right out of College.  Another friend was supposed to take the position but she got a better offer in her Home Town and decided to move there instead.  So, without any thought between, hey, that City sounds cool.  I don't have a job in College Town, Ok, I'll move.

For the past 10 years, I have been following other people's decisions.  It has landed me in an industry that I really love and a position that excites me.  However, very few decisions that placed me here were made by me.

I need to spend some time deciding if my unconscious decisions were the right ones for me or if I should take full advantage of the ability to make conscious decisions.  Let me give you an example.

In December, I started spending less time in the office.  Since I'm in Sales, I can get away with this, it's actually encouraged.  In early January, after returning from a trip to the Big Apple, I decided to spontaneously purchase a laptop - so I could work from Panera or Starbucks (until I found out they charge for it!) or Caribou or Bojangles.  I started doing all of these things that would make it really easy for me to change jobs without any conscious or planned decision to do so.  It's absolutely wild.

More to come...

Holy Cow!

Wow, so this week has been crazy.  The company I had been with for almost three years, and that RECRUITED me no less, laid off several people on Tuesday and I was one of the lucky ones!  Go figure.  Even better, I have worked more hours this week than I had in a while (and I was rarely a 40-hour a week person), without a job!  Nuts.