The Joys of Working Downtown...

Sometimes, I swear this stuff only happens to me, yet I'm sure others must experience it also. I just seem to get a lot of it. Anywho, here is the latest "did that really just happen to me?" moment.

I work in downtown Raleigh on Boylan Ave. It's not in the "heart" of downtown, but out on the skirts near housing developments. The company I work for is mostly housed in a large brick building, except for my department, the Planning Department. We are in the tiny old house behind the big brick building. We are across the street from some very shady apartments where people have been arrested and have proven themselves crazy. People love to randomly walk into our building. And since the front office is empty, they normally get pretty far before I can accost them (oh and I do). We've had drunks, people selling memberships to golf clubs, etc. but today, I experienced something new. A non-english speaking Asian lady walked into my building today calling, "hewwo!" and telling me that she drove here from Goldsboro and was trying to find the JC Penney. Did I know where it was? (The nearest JC Penney is in North Hills which takes much more explaining than I care to do). I told her that she needed to go to a gas station to ask, that they would be able to help her more than I. What does she do? She whips out her hand drawn map and shows me where she was supposed to get off the beltline. I should probably mention at this point that she has on a gold head-band, bright purple cami/leotard, and those genie-in-a-bottle pants. It's taken everything to keep a straight face while talking to this woman, but I lose the battle when I tell her she needs to go to gas station she jumps up and says, "No! You know where JC Penney be! Gas station told me wrong! They told me this circle!" She had driven a circle around downtown and ended up at my office.

I Like to Keep it Interesting...

Yesterday was my one year anniversary with the Wooten Company. WOO! (no pun intended). It's officially been a year since I left Fayetteville and moved to Raleigh, on my own, not really knowing anyone. I have gone from living in Lil Harlem/Lil Mexico, situated slightly behind the Wal-Mart in Garner (should have been my first sign) to living in a cute, cozy, and centrally located apartment in Cary. When I say centrally located I mean that I'm less than five minutes from a DSW, Ulta, World Market, Target, Stein Mart, Marshall's, and Borders, and less than two minutes from a Starbucks with a drive-thru. Be jealous!

I have also gone from the very definition of anti-social to having a social calendar that makes me tired just thinking about it. I've had more people over at my new apartment in the three weeks that I have lived there than I did the entire 11 months that I lived in Lil Mexico/Harlem. Now that my life is back to the normal Sarah-level of craziness, I have decided to throw yet one more iron into the oven: grad school!

When I graduated in December 2007, I was convinced I wanted to go to school for publishing. And that pipe dream is still very much alive. I applied to one grad school (there are only four in the country that actually have a publishing program) in Boston, Emerson College. It is very prestigious and well-known for it's publishing program. I pretty much half-assed my application, bombed the math portion of the GRE, and didn't get in (shocker, I know). I wasn't really that surprised, although, I was sad. I decided to try and get a job, work for a year, and figure out what I wanted to do. So, a year and half later, here I am, studying for the GRE and working on yet another grad school application. This time, it's for a Master's in Public Administration, concentration in non-profit organizations, at NC State University. I will be working full-time while going to school at night. If I am accepted, I will start in January 2010. I'm pretty sure that I'll have no life, will be crazy busy (nothing new), but I really think that the non-profit world is where I want to be.

As of today, my GRE test is on Saturday. I'm retaking it to see if I can do any better on the math portion. Applications are due by November 1; I'm hoping to have mine in by the first week in October. I already have one person willing to write a recommendation and hopefully I'll have two more soon. It's all becoming real and it's scaring the crap out of me, but I'm getting really excited at the same time. It will make my life crazy, but like I said, I do like to keep it interesting.

Soles4Souls

While shoe shopping online this morning at work (I know, I know - Bad Sarah!) a link caught my eye at the bottom of the Piperlime webpage for donating your shoes. I have a ton of shoes and I've been contemplating what to do with the ones that I don't wear and haven't worn for years. I'm moving in two months or so and I certainly don't want to have to take them with me, but they're not nice enough (aka - not designer) for me to try and sell them on ebay. So this Soles4Souls deal is perfect for me. You load up the shoes in a box and ship it to them and in 3 weeks they send you a tax deductible receipt for your donation. In short, you can clean out your closet and help people at the same time! Woo!

Websites that you might find useful:

http://www.soles4souls.org/

www.piperlime.com

My newest obsession...Etsy

I love clothes. I love clothes that fit me and don't look like the rest of the world even more. I have finally found the answer to my prayers/quandry/etc: Etsy.

I just discovered Etsy, though I've randomly looked on their site multiple times, I hadn't actually looked at clothing. Then I started following them on Twitter and suddenly, I'm obsessed! They have jewelry that is my style (quirky, eclectic, without being tacky and REAL) for reasonable prices and it's made to fit you. Same with clothing. This dress was one of the things that popped up on my twitter and it's only $60. You send her your measurements, she makes it, and sends it to you. On one of her other items, you can specify the color. I love the idea buying something that is handmade and tailored to fit MY body (which is next to impossible to fit into most dresses anyway). It's so personal. Most stores now aren't personal, everything is picked over, and it all starts to look the same after a while. Etsy is such a breath of fresh air when it comes to shopping for anything.

I am in love. And I highly recommend you follow them on twitter and sign up for their emails. You'll find the coolest stuff!

Little Things...

Wow, it has been a really long time since I have actually blogged! For a while, I had nothing to write about and then, lo and behold, I got a life and now I have no time to write, but for some reason I feel compelled this morning to put my thoughts into words (not feelings, just thoughts).

Two days ago, I received a chain email from the receptionist in the company I work for. Normally, I hate chain emails and delete them before I even read them, but I had the chance to preview this one before I chunked it. It turned out to be exactly what I needed. It was 45 life lessons by a 90-year old woman and every one of them, in some way or another, resonated with my life right now.

It occurred to me this morning that while the past few weeks have been really hard and very trying, God has managed to put little things in my path to make it a lot easier than it would be otherwise. I wouldn't have realized this if I hadn't been going to Bible study, which is the first little thing. I started going to church with a girl from work, then ended up at Bible study, which I have been going to for a little over a month or two now, and from that I have gained an awesome network of friends. I've been able to have a life again, have people to talk to outside of work, and have had support through all this crazy stuff with my family and work.

The second little thing, which was actually huge to me, was to be able to see Sarah Dessen again. She happens to be my favorite author and has been for the past 10 years or so. I saw her when The Truth About Forever came out, but we'd had to drive to Charlotte and I didn't remember it all that well. I knew that she was going to be in Raleigh this Thursday, the 18th, but I have Bible study and for some odd, crazy reason, I decided to volunteer to do dinner (this happens to also be my compressed week, where I work 4 10-hour days). I was pretty sad that I wouldn't be able to go. Yesterday afternoon, I happened to read her tweets on Twitter and she mentioned she had a reading, so I looked it up and she did! It was at The Regulator Bookshop in Durham (which if you ever have a chance to go to, you should. It's such a cute and awesome little shop). I debated going, asked Mom and Michaela, and finally I decided I would kick myself if I didn't go. So I went, left work a lil early, and I had the best time. Grant it, it was me and like 50 squealing middle/high school girls, but whatever. I had been that girl too and completely understood their squealing. I had forgotten how funny she was and how much fun it was to meet her, talk to her, listen to her answer questions, etc. I got my second book signed by her AND a picture. Suffice it to say, I'm glad I went.

There have been other things that have happened within the past 2 weeks, but they're not as significant as these. I would like to end this by saying that Sarah is back. The Sarah that has awesome friends (the new ones and the ones that are still here), still loves reading (and spends most Sundays on her couch doing so), and actually has a life. God, I missed having a life.

Mortally Wounded Pride

If you know me at all, you know just how much of a klutz I am. As I've grown older, it has mostly dissolved itself from my daily life. Today, however, it came back and made up for lost time.

For the past month or two, I've been wearing flats to work because of how much I run around. So flying down the stairs like a mad woman is not such a big deal. Well, today I wore my tall Vera's that I love and completed my outfit perfectly. The color printer is upstairs, so I had had to run up to get an interest letter that I had completed for Steve and was running (my usual speed) back downstairs, when I missed a step, but luckily for me! my heel caught it. I stumbled and with a death grip on the banister, slid down the stairs on my knees in the oh so lovely crucifix position. To make it even worse, Warren was standing at the bottom of the stairs with a horrified, "oh my god is she going to hit me!?!" look. I couldn't even be humiliated in private, no no, I had to have an audience. Quite Bridget Jones-like if you ask me.

So, I've decided that I'm going back to wedges (which I seem to do better with) and flats until they hire someone else and I am no longer running up and down the stairs.

And to answer your question: besides hand hurting from the death grip on the banister, my knees and shins hurting from sliding down five stairs, and my mortally wounded pride, I am okay.

I'm just going to go hide under my desk now.

ADD Strikes Again!!

Yet again, my horoscope has somehow managed to articulate feelings that I couldn't really put a finger on. Here it is for the day:
"You are feeling even more internalized than you usually do around this time of year. With ten out of twelve planets clustered in your subjective 3rd and 4th Houses now, it's challenging for you to take what you know and turn it into anything productive. And who says that you should? Even if your attitude begins to pick up this afternoon and on through tomorrow, it's still okay to take it easy instead of doing work, work and more work."

So there IS a reason my ADD is off the charts and I feel like I can't concentrate on ANYTHING (which is why I'm doing this quick blog before I go answer phones). And I feel like others can sense my craziness and are disappointed. Being an overachiever is not all that its cracked up to be people--it will drive you mad. Heck, you will drive yourself mad. And today, I am there.

I'm just saying...