Busy!

Boy have I been busy. Pretty obvious though, right, when I haven't written in months?

In the last month or two, I was very preoccupied with preparing my MFA applications. But since I've recently decided to take yet another year off before applying, that's no longer my top priority. That's right...I'm giving myself another year. I admit that it feels wrong to be changing my game plan at this point, but I just wasn't feeling at all confident in my applications. I was rushing through my endings and edits, and the results were bad. It doesn't matter how great the beginning of a story is...if the end is crap, or clearly wasn't given as much love and attention as the rest of the story, then the whole thing fails. Although I think a lot of what I had prepared to submit was truly great, I still don't feel that it's my best work. And I just can't bear to go through the whole application process and all the fees if I'm only going to be rejected and have to do it all again next year. I would rather do it right, and feel totally confident, the first time around. So that's the new game plan--use the next twelve months to write write write and improve improve improve so I'm ready next fall. I think I'm going to have to buy myself a lovely new notebook and go back to my "write something everyday" challenge. It's not easy, but the last time I tried it, the results were surprisingly amazing.

I've also been working a lot at Target...blah. Gotta pay those bills. I won't bore you with my many complaints about the job. They did, though, make me the Target Cafe team trainer. Nice to be recognized as super knowledgeable about my area, but it's basically a promotion without the raise. They did give me a new name tag with an oh-so-prestigious "TRAINER" label, and a candy bar. Whoo. Still keeping an eye out for a job where I can work fewer hours and make more money.

Speaking of new jobs--I got one this week! But it's not substantial enough to replace my current job. It's more of a supplement. It's a virtual position, roughly twenty hours a week. It doesn't pay well at all, but that's because the company is just starting up. It's a guest post company (aptly named GuestPostU)--writes quality articles on a variety of subjects for a variety of websites and blogs. While I was hoping to be a content writer or editor, those positions were filled pretty fast and I ended up as the email relationship manager. So I'm the one matching up potential clients with relevant articles and handling all the communications via email. It's easy, and I can do it from home. It is, however, quite time consuming. Today was my first day and I couldn't believe how long it took me to make ten pitches. But now that I have the process pretty much figured out, I'm sure I'll be able to do the job faster.

I've also been crocheting a lot. Learning how to make amigurumi toys, for one. I've only made gingerbread men and an elephant so far...but they turned out super cute! I'm planning to make a whole fleet of gingerbread men to give away at Christmas. They're too freaking cute not to share. :) I'm also working on a hat and a scarf...must be prepared for the chilly days ahead.

Oh, baking, too. It's fall (my favorite season!) so I can't help but want to bake all the time. I've been cooking more real meals, too...rather than pasta or easy ready made skillet meals almost every night. In fact, I have mini brown sugar meatloafs in the oven at the moment and tasty potatoes waiting to be fattened up with milk and butter and mashed to creamy deliciousness. I love making comfort food.

And now that it's almost November, I'm going to be busy working on my NaNoWriMo novel! Might be tricky with all this busyness talk...but that won't stop me from trying. I have a fun chick lit (think romantic comedy) plot in mind. I hope I have time to at least top last year's word count, which was around 10,500 words (bit short of the goal of 50,000...).

So that's what I've been up to...and am going to be up to.

Settled In

Well, it's been two weeks since we moved in...it feels like we've been here months, though, now that we're settled in. Love it here. It's so bright and sunny and roomy but also cozy because of the floor plan. Don't even get me started on how much I love the covered deck (especially on days like today when it feels like fall in the morning) and having my own office (no more desk and keyboard squashed in the living room, yay!) and the gigantic kitchen (in which I've already baked brownies and an apple crisp, in addition to many meals). Basically, we're very happy here. When I'm at work, I'm actually excited to come home and be here. That's new, and I like it.

I'm looking for a new job. I can't take Target much longer. It's no surprise that I'm miserable right now, though, during the back to school rush. In my opinion, back to school is worse than the Christmas rush...especially when you're working weekend shifts. UGH. Now, I'm aware that things will be much much better once it's September. And until late November, it will probably be blissfully slow. But that doesn't change the fact that I'm working very hard for only seventy cents above minimum wage...and that's AFTER my big yearly raise! Pfft.

I like working at Target, really. I'm great at my job, all my bosses love and appreciate me, and my immediate supervisor Judy has given me a lot of responsibility at the cafe--letting me fill out and scan our weekly food orders, having me train new team members, etc. And if they paid me $9.00/hour, I would be completely content to stay there until I have to quit for graduate school. But they don't. Sooo, looking for a new job. Thus far, I've applied for an editorial assistant position and a customer service rep position. I think I would be quite qualified for either position, what with the English degree and the five years of customer service experience and all...so hopefully I get a call soon for an interview.

Still obsessed with crocheting. I've made...six purses now. Heh. Not all for me, though--I gave a couple away as gifts. I'm working on a small afghan now, in super soft "autumn red" yarn. It's so pretty, I can't wait til it's finished. Jordan says it's too small, though, so I guess next I'll try making a full sized one. And pretty sure I'll be crocheting at least a couple things for Christmas presents this year. Maybe I'll be brave enough to try making socks by then!

I didn't think it was possible, but I love Regina Spektor even more now. Stumbled upon some songs of hers I had never listened to before...man. They've been stuck in my head constantly for the past two days. <3

UPDATE: I have an interview on Friday, yay! Its for the customer service position, at a specialty lightbulb company. Hope it goes well!! Did I mention this is a Monday-Friday, 8-5 job? After a year of working mostly evenings and pretty much every weekend, that sounds beyond wonderful.

SO STRESSED

Ugh, this move is killing me.

Okay, moving sucks to begin with. Trying to figure out which kitchen/bathroom items can't be packed til the last minute and which ones are nonessential enough to be taped into a box...running out of boxes...running out of space for the boxes you do have. It's miserable! Add to that the fact that Jordan and I are both working through the whole process, opposite shifts of each other (but team work and joint decision-making are overrated, right...?). And the fact that we don't have 5-7 able bodied family members helping us, as we were lucky enough to have the last few times we moved. My parents are the only ones who can help this year (though Carissa has volunteered her dear husband to help, as well).

So...feeling a bit stressed. Not really sure how it's all going to get done. To keep the panic attacks at bay, I just keep thinking of Monday. By Monday, we'll be completely moved in to our new place...hanging pictures and clocks on our walls, using OUR VERY OWN WASHER AND DRYER, enjoying the deck, maybe baking something in the big beautiful kitchen. Monday is my day off, and our two year wedding anniversary. It will be a lovely lovely day.

I should be getting to bed, really. I have a lot to do in the morning/early afternoon before work. But I am thinking way too hard and fast to fall asleep. So...survey?

How much does the last person you talked to mean to you? He's my best friend, life partner, soul mate, etc...so I'd say he means quite a lot. As much as a person can mean to someone, really.
Do you have plans for tomorrow? Yes, very unpleasant plans.
What's the last movie you saw? Shawshank Redemption.
Have you heard of Google Plus? Yeah. Haven't really looked into it, though.
Can you take a joke? Yeah, usually.
Do you look okay? In general, yeah. At the moment, ehh.
What's something big that you're looking forward to? Getting into graduate school...having babies...buying a house. Fun grown up stuff like that.
Do you accept all of your friend requests on Facebook? No, only people I actually know.
What do you want right now? For it to be Monday.
Are you dramatic? Not really.
Ever experienced tornado or a hurricane? Tornado, yes.
Are you feeling lonely? Not really.
When do you start school? Hopefully next fall...but who knows.
Do you fight back? Depends on the situation.
Is it possible to miss someone so much that it hurts? Of course.
What do you have pierced? My ears.
If you could change your natural hair color, would you & what color? Some pretty shade of red or strawberry blonde might be nice...
Even though cigarettes are bad for you, do you smoke them anyways? No.
What happened last night? I went to work.
Do thunder & storms scare you? No.
Do you find it annoying when others fake being 'high' or 'drunk'? I don't know anyone who fakes being high or drunk...that just seems dumb. So yeah, it would probably annoy me.
What's the last video game you played? Terraria
Are you the kind of person who over-thinks everything? Yeah, generally.
Google, Bing, or Yahoo? Google.
When were you the happiest in your life? I don't think that's the sort of thing you can reasonably measure. Or at least I can't.
Have you ever played in the snow? Yeah.
Do you tend to take things too far? No, don't think so.
Did someone say 'Goodnight' to you last night? Yeah.

Yep, addicted

Well, I'm to the point where I get an awful headache if I don't have my daily cup(s) of coffee. Definitely addicted. Oh well, I totally saw this coming. I come from a long line of passionate coffee drinkers. Pretty sure my dad has no less than three cups a day. Perhaps I should work some half-caff blends onto my coffee shelf.

Speaking of addictions...I've started crocheting, and I'm a little obsessed. I've been at it for a week and a half and I've already made two purses and a hat. There's something incredibly satisfying about creating something useful and lovely out of nothing more than a straight piece of yarn. Also, I love having my fingers busy, especially when I'm just sitting around, listening to music or watching TV. Last night, I watched four episodes of Glee and crocheted the whole time. As soon as we're out of super-save mode (which we're in at the moment because of an upcoming big fat pet deposit and a raise in our rent...oh, and multiple recent car repairs), I'm going to go buy the dozen or so skeins of yarn needed to start an afghan. I'm looking forward to trying a big project that will take me more than two days to finish.

What else is going on in my life... Work is pretty much the same. We've hired a new cafe team member, though--yay! So I'm getting better days off. Judy was especially nice to me for this week and next--Friday and Saturday off this week, Sunday and Monday off next. That's right, four day weekend! And I actually have July 4th off--I can't believe I got it off without actually requesting it. Probably going to spend two of those days with the family in Burlington and two here in town. Definitely going to be doing lots of writing and crocheting. And some preemptive cleaning and packing, I suppose. One month until we move to North Liberty! I am unspeakably excited about our new place (especially since I hate our current apartment more and more every day)...but dreading the actual move. I hate packing, I hate unpacking....I HATE shuffling a thousand boxes from one apartment to another, in the unbearable summer heat of late July/early August. Boo.

I'm going on a little vacation with my family (sans Grant--one of his good friends is getting married that weekend and he's in the wedding party) in a few weeks. All of our Maryland family (my Dad's side) are getting together for a reunion. I'm looking forward to it. It will be interesting, since I haven't seen any of these people since I was, oh, eight or nine. I'm eager to see the state, since I don't remember anything about it. Except for the reunions we went to when I was a kid, I've never really been that far east. I'm a little sad that Jordan isn't coming along...but both of us taking five days off from work is probably a bad idea. Plus Crosby would be so depressed if we both left him for that long!

Mmk, enough blogging. Time to get ready for work...

Seriously?

Have I really not written in a month? Wow.

Guess I've been busy. And yet I don't feel like I have any super interesting updates to give...just been working five days a week. Work has kind of sucked. I like my job all right--on quieter days, I legitimately enjoy it, and it makes me think about how I would like running my own cafe/bakery at some point in my life. But I get discouraged/pissed off by inconsiderate guests, and coworkers that leave me with extra work...but more than anything, it's really difficult to stay positive about my job when the pay is SO TERRIBLE. Blah. Thinking about quitting and waiting tables again...we'll see. I've been visiting my family a lot on my days off...I've seen them nearly once a week for the past month or two, which I love.

So yes, busy. While I read and write a lot in my free time, it doesn't ever feel like enough. Every day, more or less, I find myself wistfully longing to stop working altogether so I can focus more on writing. Impossible, of course. I guess should have married a doctor (kidding). I am utterly terrified that my MFA applications are due in five months. Still waiting for that spectacular story to fall out of my head...

If you were stuck in a room with your ex for 24 hours, what would you do? I don't know. We'd probably just talk, or politely ignore each other.
What's your favorite kind of smoothie? Raspberry banana.
What's the beverage you drink most often? Coffee. And according to some random article I read today, it might be giving me cancer! It's been linked to that in recent studies, apparently. I'm really sick of hearing about how everything we do and come in contact with is giving us cancer...
What song are you listening to? I don't know what it's called...some trance track that Jordan is streaming.
You can read people's minds or see the future, what would you choose? Read people's minds. Having either power would be hard to deal with, but I think knowing the future would drive me insane.
have you read the twilight series? No.
What is your favorite thing to do when your at the beach? Depends on the weather. I like to swim, if it's really hot. But most of the times I've been to a beach, it's been too cold. In that case, I like sitting with my feet in the sand, people watching.
Are you ears pierced? Yes.
If you were to get a tattoo, what would it be? Something related to/symbolic of music, or Jordan, or my family.
If you were given a chance for free plastic surgery,what would you get done? I would be really, really tempted to have my ears pinned back...but I don't think I would. Jordan would be upset with me, and I think all my family would be, too.
Pepsi or Coke? Pepsi. Though I try not to drink pop. My coffee addiction is bad enough.
Your favorite boy's name? Ugh, I have too many! If I were pregnant right now, here are the names I would be begging Jordan to consider: William (Will or Liam for short), Sam, Alan, Alexander (Alex), Bennett (Ben), Grady.
Favorite Girl's name? Same story, too many. Elizabeth (Lizzie or Ellie for short), Alice, Margaret (Maggie or Greta), Fiona, Catriona, Marlena (Lena).
What's your favorite website? Monkeybicycle.net when I'm in a literary mood, cheezburger.com when I'm in the mood to laugh, facebook when I'm in the mood to waste time.
What's the song you have most on repeat? Somedays by Regina Spektor.
Favorites!
Lotion? Burt's Bees milk and honey.
Drink? Good coffee with a little sugar in it. Or a caramel latte.
Color? Green.
Book? Too many to name.
Song? ^
Artist? Tie between Regina Spektor and Nichole Nordeman. Two very different female vocalists.
Dog? As in breed...? Jordan and I are partial to shih-tzus. I like small-ish apartment friendly dogs that are fairly hypoallergenic.
This Or That.
Iced Tea or Soda? Iced tea, if it's sweetened or flavored.
Pink or Blue? Depends on the shade. Probably blue.
Sundress or shorts? Sundress.
Back To Random ;)
What's your age? 23.
Would you change that? Nah.
What's your name? Amy.
Do you have a zillion nicknames? No. Aim or Ames. Though I guess Katie still calls me Asrl now and then.
Do you believe that the world will end in 2012? No.
What is your favorite alcoholic beverage? Moscato wine. Or any tasty sweet white wine, really.
Do you like coffee? Yes, we've established this.
Are you freakishly obsessed with Rob Pattinson? Not in the least.
What's your favorite way to wear your hair? Down.
What time did you wake up today? Around noon, since I was up til 3:00 AM.
What year do/did you graduate high school? 2006.
Do you like hot or cold weather? Hot. Well, warm is my favorite--like 65-70 degrees. Spring/fall temperatures.

I just want to say...

It is wonderful to be reminded that Jordan and I are perfect for each other...so happy to be utterly in love with my husband.

SURVEY! Because I'm feeling lazy before work and I haven't done one in months.

Have you ever had a controlling boyfriend/girlfriend? Eh, no, not really.
How many true heart breaks have you had in your lifetime? Two.
Who last grabbed your ass? Hubby.
Do you have any gay family members? No.
Where did you get the shirt you are wearing? At a performance of The Wizard of Oz that I went to with my eighth grade class.
Do any of your friends dislike each other? Not that I'm aware of.
Who is your last missed call from? I don't know. My phone is completely screwed up. I don't get missed call notifications. Or text messages. I only get notifications when someone leaves me a voicemail. Stupid.
Do you feel like everything is falling apart around you? Not at all.
Was your first kiss romantic? It seemed romantic to me.
Do you miss any of your ex's right now? No. Well, sometimes I miss having them as friends.
Have you ever overdosed on anything? No.
Is your dad really strict? Nope.
What would you say if you found out your last ex was in a relationship? Cool story, bro.
How many chances do you tend to give people before enough is enough? I've never told someone "enough is enough." But then again, no one has really pushed me very far in that sense.
Do you know anybody whose last name is a color? Yes.
Where was your last kiss? Outside our apartment door.
Do you get along with your siblings? Yes. We're starting to get closer, now that we're adults.
Who was your date to Prom? Tony.
Do you still talk to your first love? Nope.
Whos wedding did you go to first? I don't remember. I went to tons of weddings all through my childhood, with my Dad always singing at them.
When is the last time you went to the beach? Does a lake beach count? If so, then in 2006, at teen camp.
Do you ever feel like life is going by too fast? Yes. I can't believe Jordan is turning twenty-four in less than a week. Weren't we just nineteen and twenty like five seconds ago?
Have you ever made out with someone in a pool? Yes.
What are you doing this weekend? I have Friday and Saturday off :) so possibly hanging out with Carissa, or maybe going to Burlington for a quick visit. Unfortunately, I have to work on Sunday.
Whos the last person that slept over your house? Katie.
Do you still talk to the last person you kissed? Ha, yes. It's rather unavoidable.
Are you frustrated with anyone right now? Yes.
Have you ever kissed someone with a tongue ring? Nope.
Was your mom ever a stripper? Ha, no.
What did you dream about last night? I don't remember.
Do you regret any of the relationships you were in? No.
How many tattoos do you have? None.
Do you have good or bad dreams more often? They're usual pretty neutral. More weird than good or bad.
Do alot of people think bad things about you? I don't think so.
Do you wear a toe ring? No.
Who's the last person you said I Love You to? Jordan.
Is there someone that always intimidates you? Yes.
Have you ever liked anyone that was in a relationship with someone else? Yeah.
Are you afraid of clowns? No, but I don't like that.
Do you think that you're classy? Eh, I don't know about that.
Have you ever wanted to be famous? Not really.
Would you ever get a boob job? Only if I had horribly asymmetrical boobs, like one A and one C. That would be awful.
Did your last relationship end because of you or the other person? We mutually agreed to end it, based mostly on his stupidity.
Have you ever tried to break up anyone because YOU liked the guy/girl? No.
Is your belly pierced? No.
Have you ever cried cuz you missed someone so much? Yes.
When is the last time you felt left out? At work. But it isn't a negative thing to me. I prefer to have my space. I really hate polite chit chat with my coworkers.
What would you think if you found out your ex was gay? I would be rather surprised.
Why aren't you texting the last person you kissed? Because I live with him. And my phone is stupid. And why do I need to be texting someone right now?
Who are you texting right now? No one...
Would you ever take someone back if you found out they cheated on you? It depends on the situation. If he cheated because he's in love with someone else, obviously not. But in other circumstances, I believe I would.
What color is your hair right now? Brown.
Do you keep a diary/journal? Yeah.
When is the last time you ate chocolate? Yesterday. Had a brownie at work.
Do people ever compliment your eyes? Yeah.
Do people ever tell you that your funny? Sometimes.
When is the last time you saw one of your ex's? Easter.
Who was the last person you hung out with? Jordan.
Which one of your ex's do you hate the most? I don't hate any of them. Joey is the only one that I have negative feelings about. I feel perfectly neutral toward the rest of them.
Would you be upset if you caught your boyfriend looking at porn? No.
Do you regret alot of things you did in the past? Nah.
Whos the last person that called you in the middle of the night? I don't remember.
What would you say if your last ex told you they still loved you? "It's a little late for that."
How many people have you kissed this year? Just the one.
Have any of your ex's ever given you roses? No.
What's the last song you listened to? Mr. Brightside.
Who is the last person you went to the movies with? Carissa and Brian.
Are you an only child? No.
Whats your Zodiac sign? Sagittarius.
How long have you known the last person you kissed? Almost five years.
Do you think one of your friends is a slut? No.
Do you think your last ex ever thinks about you? I doubt it.
Would you ever take any of your ex's back? No.
Are you a bitch? No.
Do you look intimidating? Ha, hardly.
When is your birthday? Nov. 24th.