The Job

Time has just flown by! I can’t believe that it is already the first week of May! I have been working at my new job for a month now, and I absolutely love it! The people I work with in the admissions department are so wonderful! Very willing to help and listen if I have a question or concern. Actually, everyone that I’ve met and worked with at St. Gert’s is really nice and welcoming.

I never thought I would find a job that I would look forward to going into every day. But I do. I can really honestly say that. Looking back, I’m not sure how I even managed to stay with MAMAC for so long…in such a cold work environment. I’m so lucky to have found such an amazing place of employment. I was surprised with this beauty last Wednesday for Administrative Professionals day. /blush I was so surprised since I had only been there like a few weeks!

Not only are the people I work with great…but everything about my job is interesting, and a lot of it is kind of fun. If I’m not inputting new patients into the system, I’m off around the campus filing or doing one of the many random tasks I’m assigned. I love that I have projects that I do at a constant daily/weekly basis, but then I have so many other things that are just spontaneous.

I also really like that I can personalize my computer and work space. This is really the first time I’ve been able to do that at a job. Not to gloat, but I feel special having my own computer and log-in, email and phone number. At all my other jobs these things were shared among a bunch of people, or were “general.” Like my email at MAMAC had been passed down from previous receptionists.

I’m still really excited about the whole thing. I can def see myself being with this company for a very very long time <3

Hope all is well for everyone!

*hugs*

Nichole

Happy Friday

*happy dance*

I got it. I got the job that I interviewed for last Thursday. It is an Admissions Clerk position at a Health and Rehabilitation Clinic two miles from my house. I am so very excited!! It even has perfect hours and pay. I can’t even describe how happy I am to have gotten this…like…I think I might be in shock?

I don’t even start until the fourth of April…so it is like I have a mini guilt-free vacation for the next two and a half weeks *giggles.* This is really exciting because this job is exactly what I went to school for so I guess it is my “dream” job. *squeeeee* To top it all off, the weather in Minnesota has been simply amazing this week–we got an early spring! Can’t wait till everything starts turning green again and I can start taking pictures.

I’m so getting Coldstone tomorrow to celebrate!

Have a wonderful weekend loves <3

xo Nichole

P.S. I’m going to start posting some of the new meal creations Christopher and I come up with or change from recipes. Next week will be our rendition of vegetarian tacos.

Changes

A little over a month ago I made a big change in my life. I quit my job. Not something that I would normally do, but the place I was working at was really terrible; and since I left 7 other people have quit. That is a horrid turn over for a small office. For the past month I have been job searching everyday, and yet I still haven’t found a job. I’m not giving up though, but it is discouraging to continue getting the rejection letters…”after careful consideration we have chosen someone else for the position.” I’m trying to keep my head up though. Anything is better than the condescending, cold and negative work environment that I was in before. I would love to get into the medical field but I am also interested in working with education. I’ve always kind of wanted to be a science teacher Then there is the thought that I could go back to school. I find it crazy that I am almost 25 years old and I still don’t know if my chosen career is what I really want to do for the rest of my life. I would love to go back to school…so many things I’m interested in! Science teacher, Website designer, nurse…I also think it would be fun to be a computer tech person. *sighs* but then the other part of me wants to just stick with the medical administrative background that I already have. And at this point that is all I can do.

I really need to get a job though, so I am working with two separate staffing agencies and conducting a daily job seach of my own. I even reworked my resume–apparently the  job specific duties style resume is what people want again? (I only graduated like 2 years ago and it has changed already!)

Good things have come of this little hiatus I have taken though. I am getting back into working out, right now I am just using the Wii Fit daily–yoga and other aerobics stuff. I have also started going on walks around my townhome complex. I don’t know why it is so hard for me to stay on a constant work out regimin…but I am really trying this time and it seems to be working. I am also *gasp* counting calories. I’m not all uber crazy about it…but I have a fun application on my phone “Livescape” that I can input what I am eating *and what activities I do through out the day and how many calories they burn) and it keeps track of my calories. I like it because I can see my goal and do the math with how many calories I have burned. It is just nice for me to visually be able to see what I am taking in and burning off.

This week I am going to try and get a lot of stuff done around the house–more “spring” cleaning if you will. Last week I cleaned out and organized the pantry. This week I want to go through the closets and *hopefully* go through the junk in the basement. Yay for productive weeks!

I hope everyone is doing well! I’d love to hear from you all <3

Nichole

Early Spring Cleaning

The oddly warm weather we have been having here made me get into a cleaning mood. I decided to start with the bathroom…mostly because I knew I had a bunch of make-up and the like that I should probably get rid of soonish. That got me thinking about how long things are actually good for, so with a little research I came up with this cheat sheet:

• Mascara–3 months
• Liquid Eyeliner–3 months
• Pencil Eyeliner–2 years (when sharpened it is “cleaned”)
• Eye Shadow–6 months to  year (I also read a little about 3 months, but most sources said 6)
• Liquid Foundation–6 months
• Powder Foundation (pressed)–6 months to a year
• Blush–1 year
• Lipstick/gloss–2 years (if it smells or looks different, toss it!)
• Perfume–2 years (I didn’t know this, nor am I going to listen…they still smell fine…)
• Lotion–2 to 3 years
• Shampoo/Conditioner/Showergel–3 years

The part that I get freaked out about the most is the eye make up, as it is really important to not use your fingers and keep your brushes clean when applying it–otherwise, it can and will create bacteria. Bleh. :/ I ended up throwing a lot of stuff away, but it was a good clean. Can’t wait to go through the closet!

~Nichole

Oh hello 2012

2011 came and went like that. I blame having a full time job. When I was in school I feel like it was slowed down because I had a ton more free time. This year I had target full time, and then in September I got my current job and everything else has just been a blur. I can’t really say that 2011 was all that amazing, kind of a boring year. There were a few notable moments and time spent with amazing people though I will say the latter part of the year August~December were much better than the beginning of the year.

I can already feel that 2012 is going to be a good year. I probably say that every year, but I really mean it. Things just seem to be falling in the place. I mean this is the first time in my life that I have a steady full-time job, with goals to attain–money wise (aka. vacation to Utah~~) that will keep me focused on a budget. Staying on a budget is always on my list of resolutions because sometimes I get lazy. Anyway, I plan on keeping up better with my check book, do other people use the check book register? I stopped for a long time because Wells Fargo had all my transactions online, but I find it better to keep a running tally in the register.

Keeping up with my health is another big one this year. I’m just going to try and keep in alignment with what I changed through out the last year. I successfully stopped snacking (Target we could eat on the job…not so much on this job, so it is much easier) but even on my breaks I try to just eat yogurt or a piece of fruit; and I will say I can already tell that this is helping I don’t drink pop at work, but lately I’ve been drinking a pop a night so I am going to try and get that down to a pop every couple days and then eventually kick it. I’m not even drinking caffeinated pop (because my systems gets addicted and when I don’t have it I get killer migraines.)  so it shouldn’t really be too hard. I just don’t know what to drink besides water, and tea gets boring sometimes. Along with eating healthy, I do plan on getting back into the swing of the gym…just need to restart that pass…uguu~

I’m going to start meditating. I know that probably sounds weird, but I think it will help with my highstrung-ness. I’m also going to read the book “Integrated Intuition” by Rhiannon Paille. I mostly want to see what the psychic world is all about and whether or not there is something in there that I can actually use. I think of it as self-education because I miss going to school. I should probably get back to teaching myself Japanese too–but I’ll take one thing at a time here.

Remember the movie “Yes Man” with Jim Carrey? Well I’m going to work on say yes more, and i’m not talking about doing things at work. I mostly think of just doing things spontaneously. I’m a very organized person and doing things on the fly doesn’t usually bode well with me. I’m also quite the introvert so I enjoy staying home…I’m going to work on being more social; but we’ll see how that goes. Crowds are just not my thing and I don’t really know if that is something I will be able to change.

Do you guys have any resolutions for the new year? I’m looking forward to what 2012 will bring.

xo Nichole

Beautiful sights, good food, amazing friends

Welp…the time went as fast as it came. Taylor and Emily stayed with us not last Saturday, but the one before until the following Wednesday. Sadly I had to work Monday through Wednesday, because of my new job but luckily Christopher was able to take off and show them some of our favorite places around the Twin Cities. When we picked them up from the airport we went straight to the Mall of America. Even though we can go to it whenever we want, I still really enjoy going there. It was pretty fun catching up and just walking around the mall. We see them about once a year but talk to them quite often online, so I feel like there isn’t that much lost time between us, we didn’t have that awkward-I haven’t seen you for a year-feeling  just I felt really close to them. Anyway, after we walked around the mall for a good while we went to have pizza at Minnesota’s best pizza place, Solo’s Pizza. They are known for having all fresh ingredients. So far I have only had their personal pan sized pizza—so delicious. I went with my usual mushrooms, onion and garlic with white sauce. It was spectacular. I think Emily and Taylor liked theirs as well After that we just headed home to chat and relax before bed. We also decided on where we were going to go tomorrow–it was between the Split Rock Lighthouse or Jay Cooke State park. They chose Split Rock, and I’m really happy they did because it is a really unique park.

Split Rock Lighthouse, Minnesota

Saturday morning we got up early (for a Saturday) and drove the 3 hour drive to Duluth and hiked the trails of Split Rock Lighthouse state park. The trip up was rainy, but when we stopped to get lunch at the New London Cafe, it cleared up. We ended up with a really beautiful day to spend at the park. Though some of the leaves had already fallen off, the colors were exquisite. I don’t remember exactly how long the hike is, but we spend a good 4-5 hours just talking and hiking the trails. My favorite part is when you can go up this huge hill and at the top you can see really far. Its pretty neat just to sit up there and observe. I’ll post some pictures–they explain everything so much better Once we left the park we decided that we should get supper in Duluth, instead of eating when we got home–which would have been like 10 o’clock on a work night (for me.) So we ended up going to the Green Mill. They have the best veggie burgers I have ever had. Definitely will be adding the Green Mill to one of my favorite restaurants. You can get like everything there–pizza, calzones, burgers, soup, pasta and salads…you name it they probably have it. **Zomg all this talk about food is making me so…so…hungry. On the way home we played the “animal game.” Which is where you think of an animal and everyone else takes turns asking yes or no questions about your animal. Similar to name on face game except its in your head and you aren’t asking the questions other people are. I’m not going to lie–I thoroughly enjoyed this game. ^_^ I even won a few times, which I didn’t think was possible because my picks are always so obvious…

Emily, Taylor, Christopher and I

Monday night we ordered Chinese food and watched a movie. Oh and the boys made a Lego castle–mostly because when we went to the mall of america they went to Legoland, it was pretty neat It was nice to just hang out and relax, it was also pretty nice to just come one and see other people–usually I come home to…well…WoW because Christopher doesn’t get home till 6:30 usually. Tuesday night we had homemade bbq pizza and played Smash Brothers and Mario all night. It was soo much fun. Best time I’ve ever had playing Mario with a group of people. I love how in that game you can pick people up and throw them, or be nice and walk around with them on your head. *Coughs* or push them off cliffs and vines *points at Emily.*

Since I wasn’t going to be spending the day with them, Emily and Taylor got up early Wednesday morning and said goodbye to me before I left for work. It was really sweet. I am horrible at saying good byes…but hopefully we’ll be able to see them next summer. Christopher and I want to go out there again. There is talk of possibly flying out to Utah, then road-tripping to Vegas and California. That would be so much fun We need to keep our “tradition” of seeing each other at least once a year. I had a fabulous time with them, it was so great to see them and catch up on everything. I really hate the fact that we live so far away. I miss you guys!

~n

Fast-Forward

I seriously feel like life has been on fast-forward for me since I got my new job. Working 8-5 is pretty nice, but it also doesn’t leave much time to do a lot in the evening. Well let me rephrase that, it does as long as I am able to manage my time appropriately. Which the last few weeks I have actually been doing a pretty good job of during the week, its just on the weekends when I get completely absorbed into World of Warcraft, and/or Battlefield.

There are things about this job that I do not like, but that is whether here nor there, because I have a job, that is better than target and I am getting the experience I need to move on.

That being said, there are things I do like about it as well. Like I looooove all the data entry I get to do. I really just like being on a computer all day. Oh and answering the phone. Loves it. I also get to call people and ask them questions about their resumes–which at first I was kind of awkward at but I’m used to it now and its kind of fun to hear all about what people have been doing at other jobs. I’m really getting into a system of what I do through out the day and its starting to feel real and like I belong. At first I felt really out of my element and I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to handle such an odd culture shock–but I stuck it out and I definitely can handle it.

Sucks though, I may be out of health insurance until November, and my vacation/sick days don’t start accruing until March–MARCH. Not a whole lot I can do about that, but its gonna be a loooong time before I see another vacation. Sort of sad about that, I kind of wanted to head out west again soonish. But such is life when you are in the “real” world. I do however, get really awesome paid holidays! Never had that at any other job.

On the note of out west…Emily and Taylor are coming in 2 weeks!!! I can’t wait. So excited to see them again. I’m really bummed though that I have to work some of the days that they are here. Though I feel lucky that I have weekends off so I will at least be able to spend all of Saturday and Sunday with them. Christopher and I have already finished our shopping to prepare for them staying with us (except food.) We bought some new stuff for the bathroom; towels and rugs. Not that it was an absolute necessity, but we really wanted to get more of our ocean theme going. The towels are sandy and teal-ish and the rugs are a sandy color as well and really squishy. We also got a queen air-mattress because sadly we don’t have a spare bed…I’m kind of excited about it though because once we are able to get a bigger tent we’ll prolly take that

I’m super excited for these next two weeks!! Christopher’s golden birthday is on Wednesday, and we are having his family over, and then on Saturday we are having a get together with some of our friends for his birthday. I cleaned all day today to get a jump start on the cleaning so I don’t have to do it too much during the week. Didn’t really take too long and it always feels really good to get the cleaning done. Then on the 8th Emily and Taylor will be here. Yayness.

 Time to help Christopher make Broccoli Cheese Potato soup!! Om nom nom.

~N