weekend happenings.

This has been a very productive weekend for me . . . and I actually managed to achieve some semblance of work life balance.  AMAZING!

Friday started with a relatively short day at work and ended with a BBQ with my co-workers.  The BBQ was hosted at our former manager’s house (without his knowledge or explicit permission).  He moved out-of-state this spring, and due to the pain he has caused many of us at work, we decided that raiding his alcohol cabinet and using his house for a shin-dig was fair enough.  To disclaim this, he had mentioned to us previously that we were welcome to do this, so trespassing and stealing was not a threat.  The whole situation felt a little like a forbidden high school party (or what I would imagine that would have felt like).  Considering the “forbidden” nature of this gig, it was pretty tame (typical accountants).  We played yard games, ate pizza, and discussed our love for work.  It was a really good time, and just another reminder of how much I love my co-workers, and how hard it would be to work some place without such a young workforce.

Saturday I attended a wedding of a couple of my friends at church.  It was a very refreshing and original wedding.  Instead of having a big reception that lasted all night, they decided to have a casual ice cream social immediately after the service.  There was a cute local band, yummy ice cream, and lack of tradition for tradition’s sake.  I am certainly not judging those who do follow tradition and have the “normal” wedding festivities that everyone has come to expect, but this was refreshing and genuine.  Plus, as a guest, I highly appreciated not having to dedicate my entire day to a wedding . . . selfish but true.  Seeing someone go away from tradition was very liberating.  When I get married (if ever), my grand plan is to skip cake cutting, bouquet tossing, dollar dancing, garter tossing, etc.  As a 35 year-old bride, I don’t think any of this will make sense . . . and frankly those things sometimes make me roll my eyes at other weddings, and I don’t think I would feel differently about my own (again no offense to tradition loving people).  Maybe I will change my mind.  Wait another 10 years and see.

Since the wedding was short and sweet, I had time to run errands!  What a novel thing!  It has been so long since I was just able to run around to Target, The Loft, and the grocery store!  I was so excited that I dropped a fair amount of money on groceries at Trader Joe’s.  I went completely organic/vegetarian with my bounty.  I am not converting, but thought I’d try it for a day (had a burger tonight, so that didn’t last long).  I then spend the remainder of my evening watching Weeds on Netflix.  If you’ve never seen it, the show is about a suburban mother/drug-dealer.  I started watching it one night randomly, and now I can’t stop.  That is the terrible/beautiful thing about TV on DVD.  Addictive! 

Today, after making myself pancakes and eggs for breakfast, I went into work for the afternoon.  A funny thing happened this afternoon . . . I booked a trip to the UK for this September.  I have been loosely throwing this around with a girl I work with (who is also my sorority sister) for a while.  We took the plunge today because the tickets were under a thousand dollars (hard to do these days!)  The details of the trip have not been finalized.  Considering it’s just a few months away, we should probably do a little research!!  I’m excited and nervous at the same time, but I figured that if there was ever a perfect time to travel . . . it was now. 

More on the trip later!

i should be sleeping.

Early night off! 

Of course, when there is an early night off, I like to indulge in my DVR (versus getting the sleep my body craves).  Right now, the highlight of my weekly line-up is your typical 20-something, single girl classic . . . The Bachelorette.  Say what you want, but this show is fascinating.  (You can tell me over and over that it’s impossible to fall in love on a TV show . . . I probably won’t disagree . . . but it is pure American-made manufactured drama.)  I love the competition, the heartbreak, the cheesy dates, etc.  Some secret part of me always does want it to work for the Bachelor/Bachelorette . . . call it the gushy part of me.  However, usually these relationships fail miserably. 

That being said, I’m not really sure at what point you exhaust all other potential options to find a significant other and decide to find love on national television? 

I will never try the Bachelor route, because I know I’m not good casting material . . . but I’m having a smaller scale dilemma.  At what point do you decide that you’re ready to try the world of online dating?

I’ve been happily single for quite some time now . . . but lately I’ve been pondering the prospects of on-line dating.  There is nothing creepy or weird about doing this in 2011 . . . but yet I hesitate.  I think the deep seeded nagging thing I’m struggling with is does this mean that I am throwing in the towel on someone actually meeting me in person first and deciding that I am an intelligent, beautiful, and amazing girl?  Call me old-fashioned, but it’s hard for me to let go of that.  (P.S. I know this sounds irrational and stupid.)

The truth is that it’s probably the best/only way I will meet someone right now.  Clearly with my work schedule, I’m not out meeting a ton of new people . . . and I’m NOT dating anyone that I work with.  I just haven’t taken the leap to do it.  Considering my schedule, I’m not sure where on-line dating would even fit???  It sounds like a lot of work.  I do suppose it would provide sufficient blogging material at the very least .

I will continue to put this decision off for another day.  I’m  pretty good at that.

Off to bed before 1:00AM!

my life lately.

There have been two days in this work week . . . and I have worked from 8:30AM – 12:30AM on both of those occasions. 

There might be something wrong with this. 

If you have ever wondered what exactly I do at my job . . . this is it in a nutshell.  (Beware, there is explicit language . . . which is typical in public accounting.)  I have slowly assimilated to the culture, and now have a much worse potty mouth than I ever did before I entered the profession.  (I guess lack of sleep isn’t the only residual impact my job has on my life.)

Off to bed.  Hopefully I’ll write more at a later date.

busy bee.

Just another busy week in the life.  I am in full swing with an audit of a Fortune 500 company . . . which is a great thing to put on the résumé, but it is a VERY painful process.  I am working seven days a week and averaging 4 hours a sleep a night.  The thing that keeps me sane is my co-workers (and Diet Coke).  I am left again wondering how much return I will get for the sweat equity I have put into this gig.  Time will only tell.

Due to work, social activities are on the back burner, but I did manage to make it out to a bachelorette party tonight.  I appreciated that it was a classy affair with wine and cheese and no cheap party favors with male-specific body parts.  It was a very rare bread of bachelorette party.  I can’t count how many times I’ve followed around a bride while she solicits men to suck for a buck (no offense to those brides whom I dearly love), but I’ve been to so many of them I can barely keep track!  Frankly those affairs are simply exhausting for all parties involved.  Specifically I feel bad for the men who run into the bachelorette party . . . poor guys paying a dollar for a sucker.  PLUS, bachelorette parties tend to bring out “woo girls” (a subject of the amazing show, How I Met Your Mother) or at least the woo girl side of most girls.  A woo girl is the exact opposite of me, so generally these types of situations do not please me.  Clearly if there ever comes a day when I am lucky enough to be a bachelorette, I am going to be low key gal.  Trivial Pursuit and gin and tonics?  I think so.  Considering this event is not in the foreseeable future, I have time to mull on it.  Who knows, maybe I’ll change my mind . . . or I’ll morph into a giddy woo girl.

tweet tweet.

So my Friday night excitement was adding Twitter to my latest arsenal of social media excellence.  I’m not really sure that I get it yet . . . and I’m not sure I care THAT much what Oprah, Ellen, or NASA has to tweet.  I guess I’ll try it on a trial basis.

I also had a lovely evening with a few friends at an art festival and wine bar, so it wasn’t a completely anti-social Friday.

TGIF!

the quarter life crisis.

During the last 11 months of the year I have told people how excited I am to finally be turning 25, so I can officially have my quarter life crisis.  For those of you pondering the meaning of this, you may find it helpful to turn to the ever helpful Wikipedia. 

Many people give me a puzzled look when I mention this (probably due to the mention of crisis), but I actually see this as a potentially  positive turning point.  I am at a crossroads of sorts where it may be very easy to continue on with the status quo in my life and be content, but I keep struggling with the fact that this might also be the perfect time to just do something “crazy” (which is a very relative term for me) with my life. 

I’m not extremely disappointed with my young career so far, but I’m not extremely passionate about it either.  I’m not unhappy in my current Midwest city, but I’m curious too.  I’m not lonely and I love my independence, but I”m not opposed to meeting someone new.  These are all things that I have been mulling over lately. 

 The biggest question mark in my life now is the J-O-B.  It is always hard to describe my job to others, because it actually sounds insane when I talk to people about it . . . working crazy hours, sometimes seven days a week, and doing it all without overtime pay. Public accounting  is recognized as a great training ground for the financial world.  In order to get that training and serve our clients, we are willing to sacrifice our personal lives and most often adequate sleep.  There are a lot of positives about the profession such as the experiences I am allotted, working with people my age (whom I actually really enjoy working with), and working in a flexible and dynamic environment.  I am just struggling with at what point do the negatives start swallowing up the positive . . . and my personal life?

I think the biggest issue is that I don’t know what I really do want to do after life at my current job.  Do I want to find something I am passionate about, or move on to some staff accounting job where I will be occupied and stable?  Until I know what I want, I am scared to jump ship . . . thank you recession.

This is clearly going to take a lot of thinking . . . or maybe it will just come to me in a dream.

After all this . . . maybe I should just start my quarter life crisis out small . . . buy a new expensive purse?

a new endeavour.

I originally intended to begin my blogging adventure after college to document my way into the working world . . . now three years later and on the verge of the quarter-life milestone . . . I have decided it’s time.

I’m not going to promise myself I will write every day, and I’m not sure what I have to say will even be very entertaining or informative.  Despite this, I am here and ready to write.

More to come . . .