Busy Bee

Well lately things have been crazier than I could've imagined for someone who's unemployed. Mainly b/c for the past 2 weeks I was employed! :) YAY, right? Ugh...not so much! I took this temp job with InTown Suites (the extended stay type places) their marketing department needed some help. Sounded like a great networking thing and a paycheck. Well the only networking I did was with Google-search and my cube. It was SO boring!!!! Not only that but the hours were 9-6. Let me just tell you how horrible those hours are in case you've never worked them, especially in traffic. Needless to say I got home around 7 every night and by that time the last thing I wanted to do was look for a job and stare at a computer longer. Blah....

However, I was super happy to receive my first pay check and hopefully it'll cover one more month of rent. I've just been trying to go month to month and prayer to prayer to stay in this favorite city of mine! Oh and I did make one friend at this temp job who told me multiple times that I didn't look 29 at all! Who doesn't love a friend like that?! haha! So finally done with that and now back to the daily grind of applying to jobs! ***please withhold your jealousy kids***

(Guess who inherited curly hair from both sides of his family...this mop head, haha!)
I did have a great weekend in Bham though recently with some great, much needed family time! I'll never get tired of hearing Sawyer bossing me around by calling me Aunt Bwandi! And I got to hang with my high school BFFs and their offsprings. We welcomed Jenn's new baby girl to the play date and had an awesome time passing her itty bitty cuteness around while trying to avoid getting hit by flying toys from the twins. haha!

And the bride-to-be Ms. Malone was in town for a fabulous weekend full of showers/parties! We hosted a great shower at Ross Bridge and then continued the festivities through the night with a "Bachelorette" type evening at the Ross Bridge Resort! There was definitely too much champagne consumed (especially by myself, bad morning) and too many inapproriate words and stories told. haha! Those golfers at the Resort bar didn't know what hit them when we pranced/stubbled down from our rooms. It was so good to be back in Bham with my favorite girls, drinking, eating and telling hilarious stories! Can't wait for the wedding weekend, it'll be here soooooo soon!

So overall, busy has been good! But I must admit I struggle daily with this unemployment thing. I'd be lying to you if I said I wasn't stressed, worried, distraught and disgusted by my life right now but after a little self pity I always pull myself up by the boot straps and try to have that "mustard seed" faith. I know I'll survive, I just have to live off these fabulous moments like the ones written above to give me strength and revitalization! :)

Week of Unemployment

In case you missed the revelation of my unemployment...see below... I have to admit though my first full week of unemployment was as good as I could've hoped for. Not in the fact that I found a miraculous new job that pays me thousands but in other small ways. Monday, I had my spring kickball game. And since I didn't have to work before, I started the party early and welcomed my roomie home with a dance party in the kitchen while I waited for Ken to come pick me up for the game. Might've spiked my drink a bit to help my kicking skills. haha! We beat the mean, black team, so everyone was happy! Tuesday, my friend got free tickets to Avett Brothers (awesome band if you haven't heard them!) in Athens. No one could go since they all had to work...but guess who could??? ME!!!! We had amazing free seats! Definitely a positive pick me up for my week! Wednesday, I had a friend who I've never really talked to more than in a social setting, offer to take me to dinner. He had been jobless when he moved to ATL a year ago and said that the ATL community was so good to him. He felt it was his turn to pay it forward kinda! We had a delicious dinner over some great conversation getting to know each other more! (all for free)

This weekend was also a successful one in that there was a Restaurant Week in Inman Park so they had delicious 3 course meal for $15! And Sunday I took advantage of Stone Mountain Park and Piedmont Park! Needless to say, my first week I felt very blessed and it assured me that I know God's hand is in it in ways that I'll never be able to imagine. I can only pray this week is as fabulous and positive. Each day that's positive makes it a little bit more bearable for the mess I'm dealing with called LIFE! :)

Mustard Seed Faith

I know shocking to many that I'm actually blogging but sadly I'll have more time on my hands these days to blog. Last Thursday my HR lady called me into our big conference room, which I thought was strange but didn't think much of it until I arrived to see our President in there too. Hmm...this doesn't look good I thought. And voila...they laid me off.

This came as a total shock to me as I worked at really small company and felt like a 100% asset to every single aspect of the daily workload. It is a family business and my boss is the brother that everyone thinks will never get himself together. I knew they were always looking at his sales numbers but never thought they were bad enough to justify laying me off. But that's pretty much what it boiled down to. They said it had nothing to do with my performance...nice to hear but never the less always feels like a harsh blow to you personally. Of course, I immediately called my mom crying and one of my first statements in my weary voice was "mom, i don't wanna move back to Birmingham". haha! No offense to all my favorites in Bham but I've just been so happy since being here in ATL and I"m determined to not have to move home with the parentals at the ripe age of 30. It literally hurts me to the core to even have to write that.

So after a day of crying in bed, I've actually haven't been too upset about this disaster. (minus a few freak outs when I look at my bank account) I think the reasons why are 3 things: 1) i have AMAZING support system, ranging from family to friends in ATL to friends across the US! 2)I've been here and done this before. In 2009 when I got laid off I immediately went to Greece (no money for that this time, sadly!) and had the MOST amazing time of my life, all b/c I got laid off. 3) faith, faith , faith!!!!!

So yes, faith is the biggest and the other 2 tie into faith. I keep coming back to Matthew 17:20: "He replied, 'Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." I've obvioulsy always known this verse but for some reason it just keeps coming back into my head over and over again these days. And I gotta rely on that and Matthew 6:25-34. I have to be faithful in the fact that God took care of me and gave me such an amazing experience in 2009 why would he leave me now? To be honest my faith over the last couple years has just been fairly average I think and I've realized lately that this might be a swift kick from God to strengthen our hanging out time also. But that's just one of the reasons I've seen that God might have for kicking my butt out of that job. Don't get me wrong it sucks and it sucks BAD but I've realized that there's no point in sitting around being pissed about it (except for the occasional bad nights). So my friends...ONWARD AND UPWARD!!!!!!

Prayers and more prayers are SO greatly appreciated right now as I try to stay faithful and find a job that fits me in Atlanta!