There (was) a Stranger in My House

Until about a month ago, LoLo worked at a job that he really didn't enjoy at all. They worked him too hard in crazy high temperatures for crazy amounts of hours.

In short, they stole his soul.

I'm not kidding. There were times when I felt like the person I married was missing and someone else had taken over his body. He didn't laugh as much. He didn't smile as much. He wasn't as affectionate as usual. He got upset with me so easily. He spent all of his free time in the cave man.

For a while, I felt so alone. I would come home from work and sit alone for about an hour before LoLo would even come home. And even when he did, sometimes he wouldn't even come upstairs to say hi for another half an hour or more.

But for the last month, it feels like my husband has returned. He watched the Kardashians with me the other night. Sitting immediately next to me on the couch. Not on the loveseat. This is huge. I can see his energy coming back. He asks how my day was before I can even ask about his. Last night, I came home and dinner was ready.

After dinner, we were sitting together and I said, "LoLo, jump in the photo booth with me!" meaning the photo booth on my Mac. We started taking pictures together and just couldn't stop laughing. I haven't laughed that hard with him in so long. It felt so good.

These pictures are ridiculous. But I'm still going to post them. Because you may remember, yesterday I said that us bloggers are always posting pretty pictures and never the less perfect, less posed, less primped pictures. Well, I'm going to walk the walk, people.

"Really Erin???"

OMG such a creeper!!! (this is the picture that sent me into a major fit of laughter)

Last one!!

There you have it. Us being completely cray cray and me putting it on the interwebs for the world to see. Walking the walk.

And finally, I'd just like to wish my grandmother a very happy, happy birthday. Every year, she gets a year younger so this is probably her 30th birthday! I love you Gumma!!!! (This is how I said "grandma" when I was little...and now everyone calls her that. I know, I'm a trend setter.) I hope this birthday brings you lots of cake, new clothes, bags, shoes, gift certificates to IHOP, and a trip to the mall to pick out your present from Papa.

Taking Care of Business

Two weeks ago, our luck changed. LoLo got a call that after 4 interviews, the local hospital wanted to hire him to work in their facilities department in a position that has set hours: 7:30am to 4:30pm, 5 days a week, with the option of overtime. He starts Monday.

Do you know what this means???

via

Yes everyone. This is what I'm excited for. My husband will actually be out of work in time to go to happy hour with me. This has never happened before.

It's the little things, people.

And finally, for those of you who are not Facebook friends with me, I would like to share a perfect anniversary story followed by one of my favorite radio clips of all time.

Last night as I was sitting home alone, watching the Kardashians, feeling so excited to have full control of the remote, suddenly the channel on my tv changed and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory was on my screen. The one thing I liked about being home without LoLo was that I could control the remote but he changed the channel all the way from NYC!

Luckily, my husband knows me well and put it on one of my favorite movies from my childhood (ok, my adulthood too). He then wrote to me on Facebook and said, "How bout some Grampa Joe?"

LoLo has an app on his phone that allows him to control our cable from anywhere so that he can DVR shows from wherever he is. So from New York City, he was able still able to control what I watched.  

We weren't even in the same state but he still found a way to make me smile on our anniversary. 

So yes, how bout some Grampa Joe? Check out this hilarious take from one of my favorite radio personalities, Jim Rome.

Hey Grampa Joe, if you can do back flips and one handed push ups, why don't you pick up a shift every once in a while?

My new job... all the details!

So now that I have been officially employed for 2 whole months (!!), I figure it's about time I told you all a little more about what I'm actually doing.

CIEE is a non-profit organization that provides study and work abroad opportunities for a variety of types of people. We have offices in Portland, Maine and all over the world in our Study Centers.

My official title is Senior Coordinator of Custom and Faculty-Led Programs. Long title, I know. The short explanation of what I do is that I serve as a liaison between our study centers around the world and colleges and universities in the US that have a faculty member who would like to take a group of students to another country.

The longer, more fun explanation is that every day, I get to work with people all over the world to design really exciting programs that real live students get to go on. Here are a few examples of programs I've helped to design.

1.) A month long trip to the Dominican Republic where students get to stay with Dominican families and immerse themselves in Dominican culture. For a welcome dinner, they get to have a huge authentic Dominican meal while a DJ plays Dominican music. Maybe I'm biased here since I happen to be pretty close with someone who is Dominican (ok so I'm more than pretty close, he happens to be my cute husband), but that sounds like so much fun!

A month here? Yes, please. (This also happens to be the beach where we had our honeymoon!) via

2.) A trip to Tokyo to study art. When most schools come to me to ask where to take an art class, Tokyo is not the first place I send them. But this professor is really ambitious and enthusiastic and she decided that even though she's never been to Tokyo, she is taking an entire class there to spend a week studying and reflecting. They will even take a weekend retreat to an island nearby.

3.) A trip to Berlin, Munich, and Krakow to follow the history of the Holocaust and how it is being remembered and memorialized today. Although the topic is very sad and can be overwhelming, our staff is really good at making sure there's some balance. This group is going to go to a really fun festival while they are in Krakow and will get to attend concerts and actually meet the musicians.

These are the musicians the students get to meet performing at the festival they will go to! via

4.) A trip to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to study how they are preparing for the Olympics and the World Cup. This is the trip I REALLY want to go on with the students. They are going to get behind the scenes views of the soccer stadium, meet with the police force there to talk about security, fly kites with children in one of the favelas, and take a gondola ride over another of the favelas.

And of course, they'll go here too. via

Don't these trips just sound fabulous?? I am so jealous of the opportunity these students have to go and explore the world.

As many of you heard though, I will be going to Shanghai, China in November to attend CIEE's annual conference. Before the conference, I get to co-lead a group that will visit our study center in Shanghai. I can't believe I get to go!

Many people say that everything happens for a reason and I absolutely believe it. While my time of unemployment was hard, I tried to keep telling myself that something would come along that would make me realize why I had to go through it. This job was it. I'm living a dream. I'm doing work that I love and I'm getting opportunities that I never thought I would have.

I'm so glad you're all along for the ride. Hopefully soon I will be able to put pictures of my own showing all of the exciting places I get to go!

The story of the end

Now that I am gainfully employed and absolutely loving my job (you'll get to hear about that in a post soon), I figure it's pretty safe to tell you the story of how it all happened.

I was unemployed for a little over 6 months. For about 5.5 of those months, I did not have one job offer. I went on interviews (sometimes 2, 3, even 4 interviews), I got calls saying I was overqualified, I got calls saying "We think you're great, but we already had someone for the job. Good luck!", and from lots of jobs, I heard nothing at all.

But in the last two weeks of funemployment, I was offered 3 jobs. I was even offered a job I didn't apply for. And each of those jobs wanted an answer. Immediately.

The first job offer I received was from a place that had the potential to be really interesting, but I was a little turned off by the fact that the person who had been there the longest had only been there for 7 months. But it was a job. And for about a week, it was the only job I had been offered.

They offered me the job on a Tuesday and they wanted an answer by that Friday (I found it interesting that they only gave me 4 days to decide even though they had taken 4 months to give me an offer). Thursday of that week, I found out that Friday I would be interviewing at CIEE for the job I ultimately took. Knowing CIEE wouldn't be able to give me an answer the same day as my interview, I was stuck with a tough decision. Do I take the job that I'm only a little excited about because it's a job or do I take the risk of having no job at all hoping I get the job at CIEE?

Remember a few weeks ago when I wrote about my dad and him always knowing the right thing to do? Well this was one of the times I was reminded just how lucky I am to have him to be able to ask for advice. In the middle of feeling completely overwhelmed, I called my dad. He knew exactly what to do.

Friday afternoon, I emailed the first job and asked for more time to decide. They gave me another week.

The next Thursday, I got the call. The one I had really been waiting for all those months. I didn't know how I'd feel when I got that call, but when it came, it felt right. And that's how I knew the six months were worth the wait.

Today I visited my grandparents after work. When my mom called my grandfather to check on him, he told her I looked great and that I seemed so happy. It's amazing how feeling needed can do that to you.

So far, working for CIEE has been just what I hoped for. The work is interesting, the people I've been working with have been great. I'm going to Houston in May for a conference and may even be going to China (!!!) in November. Some days I'm not sure it's real. But then I remember that they chose me. And in the end, I'm so happy I chose them too.

p.s. Happy birthday to my daddy. I love you man!

Nice glasses, Paul. Very manly.

Release

I just finished my first week of work! Yes, it was a 3 day week, but that was the perfect way to start.  My position is a brand new one that was going to be supervised by a manager who is the only person to have ever worked on my program. Unfortunately though, she gave her notice two weeks before I was hired and is done in a week...which basically means I will have 8 total days to learn my job and everything that has happened before I started and what needs to happen after she leaves.

Day 1 was a complete whirlwind. I'm not even sure I can tell you what happened that day. But I can tell you that when I got home, I had a really sore throat and the next day, it was much worse. Wednesday was really hard. I felt like I was in a fog. My head was pounding from all of the new information I was taking in.

I was never sick during funemployment. I spent 6 months completely healthy and the first day I start working, I get sick.

I can't say I'm surprised. It felt like my body was finally giving into the mental exhaustion that had been building up during those 6 months. My body was telling me, "It's ok, your struggle is over, you're going to be ok." And my body released all of the tension, all of the anxiety, all of the worries...and I got sick.

Wednesday night when I got home, I could barely speak. My throat felt like someone had rubbed it with sandpaper and my head was too full to talk. When LoLo got home at 6:15, I was laying on the couch, half asleep. By 7:15, I was upstairs in my bed, asleep for the night.

You know how they say laughter is the best medicine? They're wrong. Sleep is the best medicine. And there's no such thing as an overdose.

12 hours later, I felt free. My body was healing, the sun was out, and I was so excited to go to work. It had finally hit me. I'm not dreaming. This amazing company is where I work. I have a job that I am really excited about.

Tomorrow, LoLo and I go to New York to visit the family. I'm so excited to cuddle with my twin nieces, have some late night chats with my brother-in-law, Sito, laugh with my sister-in-law, Luisana, and brother-in-law, Eugene, and listen to some great Dominican music with my mother-in-law.

And one of the best parts about going away is that I know that when I come back, I have a job to look forward to.

It's official

It's official. I have a job. 6 months later, I have a job. I am going to be the Senior Coordinator of Faculty and Custom Programs at CIEE (www.ciee.org). CIEE is an amazing organization here in Portland, Maine that provides study abroad opportunities for students from the US as well as creating opportunities for students from other countries to study here in the US and/or work. I am so excited about this opportunity because it really seems to combine my education and my experience. I'm hoping there might be a little travel involved too! We'll see.

I have a job. I have to repeat it because I still don't believe it. Is it wrong that I am already planning what outfits I'm going to buy with my first paycheck and that I am already starting to think about the vacation that me and LoLo are going to go on the first chance we get?

Oh my gosh, I have a job. I have to clean this house. I have to do my laundry. I have to find a doggie daycare for Bronx. I have to go to the gym. I have to do all the things I would have normally done with my free, unstructured days. I start on Tuesday. I cannot believe it.

Tonight while I was visiting my grandfather in the hospital (he had a knee replaced and he's doing great, thank God!), LoLo called and said he was out of work and was headed home. LoLo's job is about 12 minutes away, so when I got home 45 minutes later, I was a little worried because he wasn't there. About 10 minutes later, he came home with this little present in his hands:

Obviously my husband knows me well. I don't want flowers that will die in a few days. I want a huge cupcake and the biggest bag of the girliest drink you can find.

Apparently the hallmark people know me too. This card was perfect for me. Modern office. Little tropical bird in the window. Palm tree in the corner. And the words. Perfect.

Excuse this blurry picture, but it's the best I could get with the gold writing.

Here's what it says:

How exciting for you,
It's more than just a job that's new,
It shows that they believe in you...
New friends, new goals,
New parking spot.
New chance to show 'em
What you've got.
So glad for you
And so impressed.
Your brand-new boss
Just chose the best.

CONGRATULATIONS

And then of course, my sweet little husband wrote underneath:
"I knew this day was going to come. I always believe in you and I'm happy that you finally got the job!! Love you."

 It's official. I have a job. Now I've got to go, I have tons of stuff to do before Tuesday!