Happy New Year!

The other night E came into the bedroom and said something like "Man I hope next year is better, this year has been rough". He was referring, of course, to the stress of my job and my impending lay off. It's sort of put a damper on the end of our year and overshadowed everything else that's happened.

I quickly reminded him of all the good things that have happened this year:

- We got married!
- We got Milou!
- We saved money!
- We didn't get pregnant! This means we're 3 months away from winning my family's bet!
- Our friends had beautiful babies!
- We got, and paid off, a new laptop!

Admittedly, things have been pretty stressful from July - December. We had to put down our beloved family dog Pippin. We got two puppies, one of whom is a handful. I started a full time job which cut down on the amount of time I had to manage the house and E had to take over a lot of domestic things. Haji B's has been ill, we've gotten chubby, my laptop died, E's car is on it's way out, I'm now getting laid off etc etc. It's been both a wonderful and difficult year and we need to remind ourselves to focus on the good stuff.

This new year I'd like to...
- Figure out the job thing
- Figure out the school thing
- Loose weight, again...sigh...maybe I'll keep it off for once
- Save up lots of money
- Train the dog
- Be healthy and happy

Laid Off For Christmas

 
The day before Christmas eve, my boss sat down across from me in her office and informed me that she would be laying me off in January. While it came as no surprise, and I had been mentally preparing myself for over a month, it still sucked royally. The project that I've been working on has come to a grinding halt and my boss has been giving me off jobs to fill my time. Nothing thus far has indicated that my project will be picking up so I don't blame them for laying me off. I'm going to be the fourth person they've let go in the past two months.

Unfortunately, if you're looking at salaries, I am the primary breadwinner for my family and we're going to have to do some monetary acrobatics to make things run smoothly. I had hoped to be at this job for at least two years before grad school, and all our financial plans are built around that timeline. We just recently met our first savings goal and moved up our next since we were doing so well. Without my job, there's no way we'll be meeting that goal or any others anytime soon, even though E is working his butt off and doing extremely well. I'm really proud of him and the incredible progress he's made in his field and I feel like I'm letting our family down. We're pushing back our plans to replace E's car, move out and start a family. I think I'm more upset about that than the actual loss of my job.

I'm not sure when my official last day will be, and I'm hoping my boss draws it out as much as possible. Each day I stay employed is another check we can put towards our bills. Our December and January bills are always out of control with all the holiday happenings and this lay off could not have come at a worse time (as if there's ever a good time to get laid off!). I've been checking around for other jobs for a couple weeks now and haven't found a single opening in anything remotely related to my field. Finding a new job was not originally one of my New Years resolutions but you can bet it's on the list now.

(Old) New Years Resolutions:

1. Lose Weight Gained Since Wedding

2. Train Dog

3. Pick Grad Program

4. Save, Save, Save

(New) New Years Resolutions:

*****1. Find Job*****

2. Other Stuff

By the way, I'm mildly disturbed by the amount of laid off cartoons on the internet. I typed "laid off" into google images hoping to get a few good ones and instead found roughly a million. This is not a good time to be unemployed.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! Wishing health and happiness to you and yours

Happy Holidays 2011

Somehow it feels like this year has gone by at lightening speed. Like I was writing this exact post only last week about the new Hanukkah star topper we got for our tree. Except now, the new star is the old star, E and I have been married for over 8 months, we have Milou, many new babies have been born to happy friends, I have a full time job, E is working more than ever, and somehow everyone grew up overnight.

while you were sleeping/ the babies grew/ the stars shined and the shadows moved/ time flew, the phone rang/ there was a silence when the kitchen sang

It's incredible to look back and see all that we've accomplished, and not accomplished. Like our Trash the Dress session and album which we STILL HAVEN'T DONE omgslackerswesuck. But if you ignore that, we have come a long way. E and I are happily married even though I sometimes feel like we are just "two ships passing in the night" with him getting home just as I'm going to bed. We both adore our fur children and we're doing our best to work towards our future.

while you were sleeping/ the money died/ machines were harmless and the earth sighed /through the wind you slept sound /and gravity caught my love around

 

Since I never wrote a Thanksgiving post this year, I guess I should say that I'm incredibly thankful for everything and everyone who has been a part of this year. I'm thankful that E is my husband and we're still happy after almost 10 years together. That my family and friends are the best you could ever ask for and whom I love dearly. That we have the worlds cutest puppy, see photographic evidence above. I'm thankful that I'm doing a job that makes a difference, and even though it can be stressful, it's the primary vehicle for saving for our future. I don't know where we'd be without this opportunity and I feel so very lucky to have it when the unemployment rates are so high right now. 

while you were sleeping /the time changed /all your things were rearranged /your vampire mirrors face to face /they saw forever out into space /and found you dreaming in black and white /while it rained in all the colors of the night

Whatever holiday(s) you celebrate this year, I hope you have a good one. I hope you and your families are happy and healthy and I hope that the coming year is as good as this one was.

Happy Holidays!

(Song Lyrics: Elvis Perkins - While You Were Sleeping)

Welcome Baby Will!

Big congratulations to my friend E and her husband K on the birth of their beautiful boy, William Blake! He's insanely adorable with long fingers and toes and I think he looks exactly like E.

 

Welcome to the world Will. You have a great mommy and daddy and everyone is so happy you're here!

Congratulations to My Pony

Yesterday, my bestest friend Pony, got offered a full time position at one of his dream companies! I am so stinkin' proud of him for everything that he's accomplished that I have to post about it. He works in a field where you have to study for interviews and take complicated interview tests and he totally rocked his interviewer's socks off.

Pony, congratulations for everything you have accomplished. I wish E and I could celebrate with you in person now but we'll have to wait till Thanksgiving. We love you!

My Dog is Cuter Than Your Baby

Keeping warm sleeping on her daddy's pillows

 It has been pretty cold around here lately!  Much colder than I'm used to, living in Los Angeles where the sun is supposed to shine all year and so we can do to the beach everyday. I guess it really must be winter!

Picking out her Hanukkah presents

 In the spirit of all this cold weather, I picked up a sweater for Milou, along with a bursting bag of toys, at the Petco Halloween clearance. I thought I'd get some cute photos of her in it and she could wear it when we go walking at night since her fur still hasn't all grown back from her flea problem. While I expected to love the black and white stripes and friendly skull motif, I was definitely not prepared for how much she was going to love it! 

Awesome skullie sweater

 When you think about a dog wearing clothes, you picture a nearly hairless little chihuahua wrapped in a sweater to protect it from freezing to death inside someone's handbag. Or at least I do. What you don't picture is a long coated German Shepherd Dog, a strong working dog equipped with a thick coat to withstand freezing cold temperatures.  I guess Milou, who has never been in any weather cold than say, 60 degrees? never got the memo about her impressive lineage. She was thrilled with her sweater, snuggling into it and stretching out luxuriously across the bed. When the house got really chilly, she took one of our fleece blankets down to her bed with her for an extra layer of warmth.

Snuggling with her fleece blankie and her stuffed alien "Mars"

She probably doesn't need her sweater, but considering how cute she looks in it, E and I are happy to keep spoiling her. For now she's our only baby and I think she should get to enjoy it while it lasts.

New Haircut!

Not the best photos but here they are! I've slept on it and brushed it straight so it's normally not so flat and messy. It's a pretty big change but it was turning into an icky disaster and it was time for it to go!