Funemployment?

My two months at the bakery was finally up a few weeks ago so there will be no more waking up at 2 in the morning for me anymore. Although when I gave up that job I also gave up any income that it might have been giving me, which was not much because they were mis-paying me, a problem which is still unresolved.

Now I've been job searching every day for something/anything that will pay me a decent amount and be worth my time. I've been on a few interviews, but nothing that has really gotten me anywhere because all they really wanted was for me to try to sell people Direct TV at a Best Buy and that just so isn't happening. I had a really good interview for a job at Chris' company, but they didn't end up giving it to me.

I spend most of my days looking for jobs on the internet. I'm all over monster, careerbuilder, and the corporate websites, including the government agency websites, and no luck yet. I have a lot of temp agencies call me and they say they will be looking for jobs for me, which is nice, but even so they will probably only be temp positions and do not pay as well as what I was hoping to get.

The rest of the time i am doing housework and watching tv and playing solitaire on my laptop, it is seriously thrilling. So if any of you know of any jobs in the Baltimore area, please hit me up.

In other news, I ordered a new iphone so I should be getting that in a few weeks. My 22nd birthday passed without much incident. Chris came home with a chocolate cake, 2 bottles of red wine, and flowers for me. Then we went out to a simple dinner with Patrick and watched High School Musical.

There was something strange clanging around on the bottom of my car. We took it over to the Midas and they basically just pulled it off and sent us on our way. Needless to say I am seriously bored and getting rather depressed just sitting around applying for jobs with really no end in sight and no discernible self worth or measurable income.

The Maryland State Fair is in town, and by in town I mean down the block, because we live right next to the fairgrounds. Elise is coming to visit on Thursday on her way down to VA to see Jason. I am missing my New York friends and don't think I'm going to be able to see Morgan before she moves out to California. Sad face.

kbye <3

So Yeah...

So remember how I was supposed to post pictures of everything I was baking and keep everyone posted about pastry school... yeah well that ended a while ago. Class was great, I ended up making a lot of friends and having a lot of fun. After traveling way too much going down to Maryland to see the fiance, I ultimately decided to move right after classes were over and do my internship in "the MD" as we like to call it.

I started working an internship at a French bakery for a few days and it was pretty terrible. So I decided against that and went with the supermarket bakery job that I had received the week prior. It is quite torturous. About 70% of the things they sell come shipped to them frozen and they just proof and bake, top it off, or decorate it in some way. I've learned about mass production at least, and how to adhere to company rules a lot, but I'd say that's about it. The real kicker is the hours. My shift is typically 3-8 a.m., 5 days a week. It is killing me. I'm trying to force myself to go to bed by 8 p.m. Chris hung a sheet over our window to block out the sunlight that is still coming in at that time. I anticipate the time and anxiously wake myself up several times a night, and my alarm goes off at 2:15 a.m. so I can get to work by 2:50.

The man keeps telling me to suck it up and get through it, but I've got to admit that it's got me feeling fairly miserable. The only slight consolation is that I only have about 100 hours of my internship left to complete, and the two hours that I work before 5 p.m. I get time and a half, which was an unexpected surprise on my first paycheck. They pay once a week which is nice, but they have my hourly rate $2 lower than it's supposed to be so far, so I'm still looking for my retroactive pay that I've lost.

The condo Chris and I bought is great. We have a lot of space and a really nice and big master bedroom. I'm loving having my own space and getting to see my man every day. Our friend Cynthia moved into our guest room and will be staying there for a bit while she looks for a job in the Boston area. We have a happy little family dynamic going so far; watching Gossip Girl on the couch and playing Mario on Wii when everyone gets home from work and I wake up from my afternoon nap.

The job search for me isn't going all that well. I've had one phone interview and one group interview so far. I've been looking for administrative assistant and admissions representative jobs at the local colleges. Hopefully I will be able to find something soon so I can quit my job. The man of the house says I'm not allowed to quit my bakery job until I have another one lined up.

Wedding plans will probably pick up again in a bit. Mom and Dad refinanced and started moving some money around,(something Elise and I begged them not to do), and would like to help us start paying for some other things. I'm extremely grateful and looking forward to some of the fun parts like dress shopping. The future MIL calls and stops by a lot. I'm hoping it will ebb with time, but I haven't seen any evidence of that yet. Chris' uncle from Texas is in this week so we're going to be having our second crab feast of the week tonight. I love free dinner, it's basically one of my favorite things. And with that... it is 9:30 a.m. time for a nap I think.

Until next time,

Julibean <3

Sick in Maryland

After my stunning digestive pyrotechnics on the Meadowbrook, I was still not feeling very well at all. I should really learn to just stay home one extra day before venturing back into my daily routine. I always push myself a little too hard and end up sick for twice as long because I didn't take the time to heal properly. Anyway...

We spent the next two days making apple pies and fruit tarts. They were delicious and looked absolutely amazing.

I really enjoyed making the fruit tart.  I like the very meticulous and creative projects the best.  Also I just like using knives.  For some reason I really enjoy the manual labor parts of baking.  Whenever we have something annoying to do I like to ask Brooke things like "can I chop the nuts?" or "I want to grate the carrots!"  I guess I'm just weird like that.

I was still feeling really shitty but I hadn't seen Chris for a few weeks so I was determined to make it down there somehow.  I contemplated taking the bus, but trekking into the city with my bags is pretty exhausting and I tend to get sick from all the random people and germs, so I was really not feeling like adding to my sickness.  Fortunately, Casey needed to go down to Maryland to visit her Uncle and cousins, so she offered to travel with me and drive my car down so I could rest.  In return I gave her family 3/4 of my cheesecake (I let Chris eat the rest).  Chef Katie was nice enough to bake and un-mold the cheesecake that I had made before I left for Seattle so I was able to get it out of the freezer and bring it home.  I got rave reviews from K's family about the cheesecake.  Apparently it was better than Junior's bakery cheesecake, which means a lot if you're from Brooklyn!

Casey dropped me off at Chris' parents where we would be spending the weekend dog-sitting for Abby while his parents were away in Phoenix for the week.  I lent her my car for the rest of the weekend since hers had recently been totaled in that stupid car accident.  I felt like such crap that I basically moped around in sweatpants for the majority of the weekend whining about how much my throat and stomach hurt.

Andy and Becky came up for dinner and a movie Friday night.  We had some pizza and watched The Proposal, which was surprisingly amusing, and then went to bed.  They left early in the morning because Andy had to be back in D.C. for a robotics competition.  Saturday I was determined to try one of the recipes that I had missed while I was absent.  I didn't want to get too far behind so I decided to make eclairs which included three elements that I had missed that week; pate a choux, pastry cream, and ganache. 

Even though I had asked Brook and Chef Katie about the recipes, copied Brooke's notes and basically made her act the process out for me like charades, I still could not manage to get it right.  I attempted pastry cream 3 times before I decided to call it quits for the day.  I felt so terrible that I was not concentrating at all.  I called the emergency number for my doctor's office and left a message.  I really needed to know if there was anything I could take for my upset stomach because all of the drugs I had picked up at the pharmacy told me not to mix with antibiotics.  Thankfully, my doctor got back to me and wrote me a new prescription for a different antibiotic which he called into the local CVS.  At this point all I was thinking about was how long I could stay on my feet before I needed to lie down.  So instead of baking anymore we went downstairs and watched Crank.

Chris' parents got home and we went out to dinner at Red Lobster.  I had never been to a Red Lobster and honestly, now having been there once, I think I'm all set for the rest of my life.  Granted, I was ridiculously sick and weak and feverish, but the food really sucked, and the waitstaff was not that great.  On the way to dinner we realized that the local CVS that was located in Sketchville, MD had closed early.  So I had to wait another day to get new drugs.

Casey showed up at Chris' on Sunday morning after breakfast while I was completing my eclairs.  I had finally gotten the stupid pastry cream right (apparently I had it right all along but I kept thinking there was something wrong with it.  Go figure.) and was filling my eclairs.  Since K is an amazing sisterfriend, she went to the sketch CVS and picked up my drugs while I finished the eclairs (which were delicious).  I packed up my stuff and the three of us had lunch before Casey and I left for home.

More to come... Julibean <3

Strep Throat

So our last day in Seattle we went to the park and took a bunch of pictures with Dan's new badass camera.  We basically just ran around posing and jumping in midair and such.  It was a beautiful day, clear blue sky, great temperature.  These are the days that make me want to move to the west coast.  Well maybe some day, but certainly not now. 

Later we packed up our stuff into Dan's car and then met his friends at a hibachi restaurant.  I've been to plenty of hibachi places, and I pretty much always love them, but the performance tends to always be the same.  However, the guy at this place was the best hibachi chef I'd ever seen.  He did awesome unexpected tricks, and was so nice, personable, and funny.  I would definitely go back there again.  Pretty much everyone in the restaurant was laughing and having a great time, the atmosphere was amazing. 

This couple that we had dinner with is actually getting married shortly, and Dan, our very own internet minister will be marrying them.  Trust me, I had the, "Dan should marry Chris and I" argument with my mom plenty of times and I'm just not even going to bother going there again.  It was pretty pointless.  It's a Catholic wedding for us!

We had a pretty terrible flight back.  Elise felt awful at dinner, and whatever she got slowly spread to me throughout the flight so by the time we got back to JFK we were both miserable.  I called in sick to school because I could not even keep myself sitting upright I was in so much pain and discomfort.  Turns out we both had strep throat and Dan got bronchitis.  What a lovely trip to Seattle it was!

Elise and I had crazy high fevers and went to the doctor.  Elise's throat was so sore that her tonsils were literally swollen and bleeding and she had to be prescribed pain medication.  I was told to stay home an extra day from school until I was on antibiotics for 48 hours.  I ended up missing Creme Anglase, Pastry Cream, Pate a Choux, Meringue, Chocolate Mousse, Eclairs, Ganache, and Paris Breast so I had a lot of catching up to do when I got back to school.

Unfortunately, whatever antibiotic that the doctor put me on did more harm than good.  Apparently when I was a baby augmentin made me very sick, but my mom failed to mention this to me, so I didn't know to avoid it.  I was incredibly sick to my stomach, could barely eat anything, had to use the bathroom a lot, and was consequently very dehydrated, still had a sore throat, and was light headed and dizzy from not eating.

I stuck it out in class anyway, after telling Brooke that I felt terrible and asking her to do anything that involved walking over to the hot ovens or stove tops.  I was really pathetic.  We prepped flaky pie dough and apple filling for a pie we were going to make the next day.  I made it through the day and then really started to feel sick as we were leaving.  In true Julie style, I managed to throw up out the driver's side door of my mother's car on the shoulder of the Meadowbrook Parkway after quickly drifting across three lanes with my mouth clenched shut.  Not one of my finest moments.  Needless to say I think I went home and went to sleep.  I don't even remember.  All I know is that those antibiotics were really not working for me, and my throat still hurt like a mofo.  

Back in Seattle

After we got home from the Olympics were were back at Dan's place in Seattle.  On Saturday we hung around the house and played some rock band.  Everyone was pretty sleepy and Dan was feeling like crap since his arm hurt and he was getting sick.  We took a quick trip to the supermarket to get some Seattle's Best coffee for Mama and then had some sushi for lunch.  On the way home we stopped by the Boeing Plant where Dan works because we saw the giant marshmallow plane taking off.  It turns out it was landing, but we got the chance to show Jason the planes and took a quick trip through the gift shop.  I picked up a few pens, a pair of really soft sweatpants, and a tee shirt for Chris.

Later that night we were invited out to dinner for Dan's friend Julie's birthday.  We had met her and her husband one previous time.  The last time Elise and I visited Seattle a few summers ago, we went to the Folk Life festival and the Space Needle, among other places, and had dinner with Dan's friends at Julie's place after we watched them play an indoor soccer game.  Before dinner we stopped by Dan's friend The German Guy's (Thomas') house and helped him pack up the kids, Runja and Leif, and bring them along to dinner.  A few years when we visited, Runja was just a toddler trying to crawl/run around.  It was great to see her all grown up as a 6 year old, and meet their baby son Leif.

Julie's birthday dinner was at a Moroccan restaurant.   None of us had ever eaten Moroccan food before, but it was absolutely delicious.  Everything I ate that day tasted amazing.  Dinner did take fucking forever, but it was more of an experience, than a meal. 

Julie eating her birthday cake. 

The Belly Dancer. 

 The waiter was really great with Thomas' kids, especially Runja who would not stop talking the entire night.  Julie's birthday was easily taken over by everyone talking to and paying attention to Runja.  Who is pretty cute, I'm not going to lie.  But I think she may have been the one to get us all sick...

Runja's little brother Leif with my sister.

Even More Things That Happened Months Ago!

So here we go again with me trying to catch up on posts.  I'll let you know when things actually get current again!

Julibean <3

Well Fuuuuuuuck

So I had meant to catch up on blogging when I had free time on the weekends.  I had a list written up of all the things I've done between my last post and now, but my computer seems to have eaten it.  So let's maybe do a quick picture montage?  Maybe I can remember everything that went down?  I doubt it.  But I can sure try!

1.  The Quest for Quatchi
Let's do a little history lesson about this post.  Spring break of Sophomore year, the fiance and the boys (Andy, Tim, and Ashley) had plans to go to the Whistler resort in Vancouver (the site of the 2010 Winter Olympics) to go skiing.  They had booked the trip before Chris and I had started going out, and I didn't ski anyway so I took them down to my house and dropped them off at JFK.  I spent the week doing a whole lot of nothing and staring at my phone hoping that Chris would brave the excessive phone charges and give me a call.  They spent the week skiing and hitting up all of the local bars and clubs, having a great time.  I go back to JFK on Sunday to pick them up so we can drive back up to school and the boys begin to strap their huge ski bag on top of the car while Chris walks towards me with a plastic bag with some squishy brown feet sticking out.

Enter Quatchi.  Chris and Ashley had decided that this strange looking stuffed animal in the Vancouver gift shop was the most adorable thing in the world and needed to be purchased for me. 

 So meet Quatchi.  He is a youth Sasquatch from the northern lands of Saskatchewan.  He enjoys photography, and ice hockey, and his favorite color is chill blue (the color of his earmuffs).  For a full biography, look here.  There are even fun Quatchi games to play and pictures to color, and yes, I have done all of that.  Anyway if you read his bio and think about how huge and hairy and shy a Sasquatch would be,  you'd realize that Quatchi and Chris are pretty much the same person.  So I began to call him my little Sasquatch, and when he gets upset he makes a "sad Quatchi" face, etc., etc. 

I'll admit that I became a little mildly obsessed with Quatchi.  He was in my bed every night, crooked under my arm.  If at all possible, Chris loves Quatchi more than I do and in the "hiatus", ("divorce"? "separation"? whatever you want to call it) Quatchi stayed with Chris, meaning he then went on a cross country trip strapped into the back seat of Chris' Sonata.  Here's a little Quatchi photo shoot, in case you were interested in some more Quatchi porn. 

One day while surfing the internet for hours at a time as the sister likes to do, she sends me a link to this picture:

Not only are there people wearing life sized mascot suits, but they are riding a three person bicycle! Look at the tiny little bike helmet on Quatchi's head!  So on our trip to the Olympics, I was on a mission to find these characters and get a photo with them to frame for the fiance.  Elise and I checked the Olympic schedule and found that they would in fact be in the Olympic City the day we were there.  I searched high and low, and did not catch a glimpse of them. 

The real kicker is, we went out to dinner with Dan's friends Sunday night before we had to jump on the flight, and they told this story about how they saw these gigantic mascots running around.  I was so jealous!  One day... I will find them.  Anyway, since we couldn't find the mascots, Elise took a picture of every Quatchi we could find throughout the trip:

More posts to come...

Julibean <3