All of the things.

Pretty exciting last couple of months! After a rollercoaster of a closing process, we actually did buy the house I posted about before. Its everything I thought it would be. We have so much more room, an amazing yard and we live in the most beautiful community. I couldn't be happier. I love taking this next step on our lives together. This weekend we spent time working on the yard and doing odd things around the house like putting together dressers and hanging up the TV.
Its an awesome feeling, but the thing that makes it best is doing it with Nick. Never in my life have I felt so right-in-step with another person. It was always me following them or them following me all while struggling to find a happy medium. With him, there isn't a question, we are simply on the same page or we work together to make things happen.

Another super exciting development is that I got a new job. I hadn't been happy at my previous job for some time. Not so much the job but that the job wasn't going anywhere, I felt like I had no room to grow and nobody supporting me if I did want to move up. Its a bad feeling and it was making things really hard for me. So I started applying to a few banks that I thought would be a good fit for me. I loved banking but I never thought I'd find a company I believed in and actually liked working for as I did with BB&T. Well, I found a couple of credit unions and one bank and just kept applying at them and a few other various places to see what was out there. I got a call from my new employer telling me that the job I applied for was really meant to be filled internally as it was an operations role and they wanted someone who knew their bank policies first hand. However, they liked my resume and asked if I'd be interested in working in a branch again. Of course I would! My interview was for an assistant position but when I got there they said they had a manager spot open and I interviewed for that. I start October 15th.

As you might imagine the last couple months have been pretty crazy. Hopefully, once I fall back into some semblance of a routine I'll be able to blog a little more! But today I am going to spend outside. Its finally down to the 80s here in sunny Arizona and my beautiful backyard has gotten overgrown so I'll be pruning and trimming to my hearts content all afternoon.

The Pen

My favorite pen has left my desk leaving behind only a note that reads:

"Don't worry...

I'm ok. I just went out

4 some fun. Hey...you

got 2 go on vacation

this year...

With Love, The Pen"

its been several weeks and my pen has not returned so I have left a note for it to find upon its return:

"Dear Pen,

I hope you've enjoyed your

travels. Much has happened

over the last few weeks.

Sorry for doing this in a

letter but...

I've replaced you with

a younger, thinner, move

attractive pen. I hope

you understand...I have

needs. Its not you, its me.

Regards,

Stephanie"

Lately I have been making things seem more difficult than they really are for myself and this morning it hit me. I've always tried to simplify my life, too much stress is never a good thing and I don't know why I suddenly felt like life was too much. I am very pursuaded by other people and I am sort of embarrassed to admit that when I see others very stressed and frazzled and I'm not I feel like I'm doing something wrong, like I missed something I shouldn't have and I start searching for whatever it was I thought I might be missing. But the truth is, I don't need to be stressed, I'm not missing anything I'm just handling my life correctly and that's why I'm not overwhelmed. I am overwhelming myself trying to find out why I'm not overwhelmed!! Sad, I know. lol.

I was out Sunday night talking to this beautiful man at the bar (I had Monday off, I'm not normally a Sunday partier) and I glanced at myself in the wall sized mirror and realized I was horribly, pasty white. I am going to a tanning bed immediately after work today, I don't want to be bronzed and fake looking but I definately need to look less....dead.

Sunday I leave for my last week in NC, I need to get a plan in place to not fall off the good eating and spending habit train I have been on for the last few weeks. I think I'll buy a cooler and premake some meals that I can just put in the fridge in the hotel and heat up through the week and try to avoid eating out. I have managed to really get a nice sized savings account going since the BF and I broke up and I have a lot less expenses, don't want to ruin it while out of town. Plus I somehow blew through $500 while I was in VA a couple weeks ago with my sister. She's impossible not to buy things for, I just love her!

Well the end of my early Wednesday is here!

I should have known that Twlight was going to disappoint. I was replaying the book in my head as the movie went on and it was making it worse! Had I not already known the story of Edward and Bella it might have been a good movie, B-rated maybe as it wasn't very well executed by the actors but defiately not box office quality. I understand for times sake they had to re arrange the story and for the most part they didnt' miss too many key plot points; I still would have liked it to be more like the story. The funny part is, reading the book and knowing how people were supposed to act (because the author was very detailed on the characters mannerisms) I could tell the actors were trying to portray the character exactly, probably not the best idea. Anyway I have to give Twilight, the movie C+ (the + was for effort).

My foot is huge today, can't wait to see the doc next week. There has to be something they can do to either improve circulation or keep the swelling down. At this point I dont' think that it my veins causing the issue. I have always had bad circulation and swelling ankles and the blood clot made the circulation worse. Tired of wearing the dumb support "hose" as I can't wear ANY of my cute shoes with those hideous thick white things on. UGH!

OK that was too much complaining for one post. What happy thing can I say for today..hmm. My teller supervisor is doing fantastic getting me leads and referrals, hopefully she is successful in coaching her tellers to do the same things. She does exactly what I tell her to do and I think after we get more comfortable with each other she's going to be a huge asset.

this damn old desk!! I fight with it night after night trying to get it locked, there has to be a trick besides slamming the desk drawer until it works! Alas, if that's all I have to worry about...life is good. And it truly is.

Work has been wonderful, I was in training in Winston Salem, Nc all last week and I learned soo many things! I feel well equipped to understand the inner workings of my branch and I know how to coach and engage my employees. In 2 weeks I go back and learn how to make retail loans. The pre-homework before the class is gruelling but totally worth it, I've been wanting to learn this for a long time.

My apartment is messy! I need to do laundry and every night I think I will go home and take care of all that something comes up, someone wants to go out or I want to do something else. This is a good, not a bad thing because I wasn't this busy when I was actually living with someone that should have already been doing these things with me! I love where I live, I don't care if it gets a little messy because I'm happy, so happy.

World of warcraft is fun, I haven't played too too much lately with everything going on. I made a good group of friends and I'm currently raiding my shaman (as a healer) and leveling my mage (she's 78 now). I made a hunter to play around with, doubt anything will happen with her but I kind of wish it would. I should have been a female dwarf ages ago!

ha! That's all for now

CYA!

Hola Journal!
Today is Ty's birthday and I forgot my phone!!! I'll see him tonight tho at his birthday party, my stomach is churning about going. His girlfriend, who apparently doesn't like me much, is going to be there and I doubt he mustered up the balls to let her know I was invited. I got him Aqua Di Gio, the most amazing smelling cologne on the planet. Jamie used to wear it, you know when you date someone and then you end up hating them usually anything that reminds you of that person you don't like? There is nothing on the planet that would make me stop swooning for Aqua Di Gio! Why not let my oldest friend smell like it?

You know for the last year of trying to keep this journal updated I always had nothing to say, because I literally did nothing and now I have so much to update! I am thrilled with life right now.

work is going good, I am at my new branch for the second week and its still slow. I am having to cold call people to drum up a little business! That's all I will update for now this is getting a little long.

I don't want to ever relive what happened to me over the last 2 weeks so I'll summarize: I got a blood clot from using birth control, it hurt more than anything I have ever felt before, it still hurts. I spent 6 days in a hospital but I am out now and back to work.

Now. I got an apartment at The Waterford and I love it. Thank god for my mother who came to help me move and extended her stay when I got sick, she helped me move in and furnish the place. Its really nice, I love the colors i chose and I honestly love coming home to a place that is all mine and being able to do whatever I please.

Tonight I'm going bowling with Ty. Ty is a childhood friend that moved to SC when he was in high school, lucky me that I moved to the same town he did! He's been a blessing to say the least, helping me move and keeping me company and letting me vent to him!

I am officially in my new branch as manager and I am currently putting together a meeting to help us get to know each other and set some goals and boundaries. I'm excited, I wish I didn't feel so medicated all day because I know i'm being quieter than I normally would be.

Ok it seems that one week is my official break up get over it time frame. I successfully made it through an entire day without crying, getting very sad and I ate more than once. Over the past few days I have:

-Rented an Apartment in a community I think I am really going to like
-Turned on electric, cable and internet as well as bought renters insurance
-Recieved flowers from my 2 best friends which had a card that read "the rat bastard didn't deserve you" hehe
-Found out that 3 of my friends think they are in love with me-lovely ego boost
-Realized that though my family is far away, they care for me and are willing to help me do anything

So, what of me now? I want to take this time in my life to truly explore what interests me. I will have a lot of time on my hands and while work is going to be seriously hard over the next 6 or so months, I promise myself that I will expierence at least one new thing a month. Join clubs and participate in more activities. I'm a young, single, successful girl!!

I have the memory capacity of a pea. I swear to god if you told me something right now in 3 minutes i would probably forget what it was you just said to me. I try and write everythign down so I won't forget important things but occasionally something slips through the cracks. Today it did and I feel like such an ass! I promised a client I would order him some checks because he needed them to pay some bills....last week on Friday. Here it is a new Friday and he comes in looking for them, not here because I forgot to order them. DAMN.

Last night was a productive evening on the Borean Tundra. I have become very good at the art of mob stealing. Since there are generally 10-15 people standing in the spot where said monster is waiting to be killed, I need to be the first to do so. /target mobname /cast earth shock macro works best. Speaking of combat. I recently made the switch from Resto which is what I have been since I turned 70 to enhancement in order to be more productive leveling. I have to say, I freakin love it! I'm not too happy about lava lash I thought that would be more fun but its a nice instant spell to throw into the rotation. I plan on doing all 130 quests in the tundra before leaving so that I don't have to come back and do them again for the achievement. Theres a lot of gold to be had, which is good, because learning professions has gone completely through the roof. I spent over 200g the second I landed in Valiant Keep just learning cooking and fishing.

Its election day!

I feel torn about many things lately, I dont' think that who to choose for president should be one of them. But I am! I like each candidate for various reasons. I am usually strongly democratic. Maybe living in the south has changed my outlook on how I view things? Maybe my democratic candidate isn't as democratic as he thinks he is? Maybe I had the whole thing mixed up! Either way, I think the majority of the peoples votes are going to be on the person and not what he stands for. Which is wrong.

Election day is not a federal holiday, schools are closed because thats where many places hold elections. There is no reason for the bank to be closed today, stop calling.
My manager told me I could not come in late today so that I could vote before work. Shes not here right know, probably voting. Hoe.

After work I need to go to the gym, I've been skipping alot with the weather and the time change, I've just been tired. I need to buckle down and get back on the wagon!

Halfway through writing this blog I got a customer. He asked me if I was going to vote and I told him yes, he told me he couldn't vote because he had a criminal record. Then he proceeded to tell me that someone busted his mouth with a brick so he pulled out his shotgun...
Which candidate has tougher gun laws?

Memo

"Please join us in congratulating (Me) who has accepted the position of Banking Network Branch Manager at our St Matthews Branch. She has served as a teller and is currently a Relationship Banker at our Pelion Branch. Her passion around client service and teamwork will be instrumental in her success at St Matthews.

Please help us congratulate (Me)! We wish you the very best in your new role!!"

WooHoo!!

I went out to meet my new branch yesterday, seem like a nice group. Very small branch, I thought Pelion was small, this takes the cake! Its quaint tho, I think I am going to like it and so far the people that I did meet were very friendly.

Big News, Big News!!
I hate when I have HUGE big larger than life news, that I can't share!!!! All I can say is that something very big is about to happen to me and its a very good thing but since its unofficial, I can't tell anyone yet! The second I know, I'll post. Promise.

Besides that, my sister left for VA this morning. Its bittersweet. I'm happy to restore order to my home and I am sad because I won't have my little sissy-poo to hang out with!!

You know I just now, like 3 seconds ago noticed that I can tag my entries? I'm doing that now.

This weekend was much fun! I went to the Riverbanks Zoo with my sister. We parked on the botanical garden side and rode the tram into the zoo. Spent the entire afternoon looking at animals and spending time together. It was nice. After the zoo we went to Fuddruckers and then went shoe shopping. All in all, a wonderful Sunday afternoon.

Today and for the rest of this week I have a trainee with me, Maggie. Shes sweet as ever and I can't wait for her to get going in this job because I think she will do really well with it. She's currently in the other room taking some online tests, which gives me a minute to update!

Tonight theres a dinner at the local High School that I'm going to attend. I wore my suit again and thus feel very important today!

I truly am a horrible conversationalist on the phone. I could talk and talk in person but seriously, on the phone I get toally distracted. I can't listen to someone I can't see, I think. I just want to walk around, clean up or do something other than sit there and talk. This poses a problem because my bestest friend lives in Arizona and the only communication we have really is via phone. I am going to send her flowers.

I met a man named Jessie Dukes today, isn't that a cool name? Sounds like a gangster! He's a very tall very nice looking man that sells used cars. I guess in the current situation its also a very hokey name for a used car salesman but its a neat name nontheless.

I am 90% sure nobody reads this blog, but if you trip across it and you know how to make a twitter feed on my page, can you leave me some instructions? That'd be wonderful, thanks.

Today is the first day of our 4th quarter campaign at work. I have a whole new set of goals to meet in sales and I truly would like to make them all. Especially credit cards which seems to be the bane of my existence. My trainee starts back next Monday after being in class for a week and I really want to be a good inspiration to her!

At home things seem quiet. After our talk a couple of weeks ago, Timothy is either still thinking or has decided. I think I won't push him for a few more weeks for a straight answer. My sister is moving out on Monday of next week and I'll give him a couple of weeks after that and then I'll press him. Either way I am prepared for whatever his answer may be. I can move forward if necessary, I have chosen an apartment and if shannon moves out this way I will have a roomate. If he decides we should stay together I have some ground rules that need to be followed so as to never end up in this situation again. We'll see, we'll see.

I started a new workout at the gym this morning. Its called reverse something, basically you do all your normal exercises except you focus on the return position instead of pushing outward...if that makes sense. you lift the weight quickly then slowly return back. Its much more difficult that it sounded when he told me about it! I'm a little sore and I usually am not.
I also want to start a food journal, I haven't decided how exactly to go about it, I've tried the online ones in the past but I never keep them up, I think maybe i'll just get a written journal to keep in my purse and write it as it happens.

Its a gloomy Friday. At least its cool outside though. I wore my suit today. Mostly just to prove to myself I could pull it off. I got a lot of compliments so it made me feel better. Usually I put it on and wear it around the house a bit and then take it off. I don't know why it makes me feel fat. I needed to prove to myself i'm not fat after Wednesday being told that after all my hard work at the gym I gained 7 pounds and 3% body fat. Which is totally not true, how am I fitting into the suit that didn't fit before?! She measured wrong. Maybe next time she will measure right and i'll have lost twice the fat!

This weekend is serious house cleaning time. My sister is moving out in 10 days and I will have a little order back, now I will only have Timothy to clean up after and he's a whole house mess of his own. I also want to work on my quilt, I need to make the settings on my sewing machine right again tho because my stitches are too loose and you can see them when you pull on the fabric. Its really looking pretty however, I like the colors and pattern that we picked out. Mom will love it.

Today is my Life Force weigh in. I find out if I made my goal for the last 3 months, which was 10 pounds and some body fat. I'm 80% sure I have much less body fat but I don't feel like I lost the weight. Mostly because I've been strength training more than doing cardio/fat burning exercises. Either way, any improvement will make me happy and keep my work happy so they continue to pay for my insurance!

So today I am sending certified mail to all of the clients that showed up on my annual safe box audit. Throughout the year I have called these people again and again asking them to come in but they don't and I get in trouble. I hate it. HATE IT

I'm slowly losing my mind. Do I beat myself up about things, or am I being beaten up? I can't tell anymore. Every little comment, lack of a comment seems to mean more than what it probably does, or does it? I can't tell anymore.

Lately I've just been bummed out. I take no joy in other people. Maybe its my job, I love what I do when its for the better. Helping people out of a jam, giving advice where needed or providing a service my client truly needed. Its the ones that take advantage that disappoint. Day in and day out listening to people talk about how hard it is to manage finances is taking a toll on me. They come for advice but what they really want is a free ticket out, and IF you give that to them, they aren't grateful, they come back again and again with a new story and new reason.