Woo Hoo!

Things are looking up! As you may have read on twitter....

I was offered a school psych*ologist position in the county where I am completing my internship! So excited!!

Funk

It has just been one of those weeks (okay, two days).

I try to stay positive on my blog, no one likes a Debbie Downer, so if I am absent for a few days, you'll know why. I am hoping for some big news in the next few days, so hopefully that will bring me out of the funk!

Until then.....

Weekend Recap

What a long, crazy weekend it has been. And I mean that in a good way! I'll try to break up my recap with some pictures. Unfortunately, they are all from my phone camera, so the quality isn't too great...

Friday night started with a drink on a restaurant patio with my darling husband. Our place of choice was a restaurant/bar that serves liquor in a glass with the mixer on the side. Dangerous!


We then split up so he could watch the hockey game with some friends and I could drink wine with PP&MS and Wearing Mascara on a rooftop in DC. After the game was over, AJ met up with us (as did WM's boyfriend) and we all headed out to a bar where we danced the night away. Literally. I haven't danced that much since our reception. I used to be a dancing queen, but hadn't been in the right place or under the right circumstances to break out my moves. Thank goodness for these girls! It was such a blast.

On Saturday we had brunch with WM & her boyfriend before heading home and napping for a few hours. Boy was it nice to get the needed rest! We were planning to hit up a public pool, but ended up not making it over there. Maybe another weekend? Saturday night was low key, we spent most of the night watching movies and clips on hulu. Neither of us can get enough of Justin Timberlake on SNL. Hilarious!

We started Sunday off with a trip to Starbucks (with Kona in tow) and sat outside to enjoy the sunshine. I am loving the $2 iced coffee with milk. In the last couple months I have started drinking coffee on the weekends. I still refuse to drink it on a daily basis, but I am finding that I don't mind the taste as much as I used to. With two splendas, it almost tastes like a flavored latte.

Later in the afternoon we headed out to Arlington to watch the hockey game with some of Alson's friends. The host lives in a high rise in Rosslyn and a small part of me now wants to move into a building like his. I was glad that we spent the entire time on the top floor, which had a huge party room, patio, and a pool. Unfortunately the weather started getting icky, so we didn't spend much time outside. Instead, we watched the game and ate lunch/dinner in the party room. Look at the view!

Today we headed to Georgetown for lunch at Old Glory, a barbecue place that offers sauces from five different regions, including our old stomping ground in North Carolina. Our food was yummy and I would definitely go back. The cornbread and honey butter they bring in the beginning was so delicious. I honestly would eat another basket of it if it was placed in front of me right now. Plus, they give you tootsie pops with the check. Sweet!

After lunch we headed down to the waterfront. It was so hot, so we quickly wandered back to our car and headed home. Luckily it was just in time, as the rain and a storm passed through shortly after we arrived home. The rest of the afternoon was spent reading (I finally finished The Associate), eating dinner (remind me to tell you all about spiedies one day), and snuggling with our puppy. Right now we are watching American Gangster, but it is a little too violent for my taste....hence blogging instead of focusing on the movie.

And one last picture to end the long weekend....


Who doesn't love snuggling with a sleeping puppy?!

Bring on the Summer Scents

Earlier this week, my husband (or my mother?) put an air freshener in the bathroom. That would be totally fine if it was this scent:

Instead, they put an Apple Cinnamon scented air freshener in the bathroom. HELLLLOO, it is almost summer, not fall or winter. I don't like olfactory dissonance!

Random Question

Although we live in DC, I have found over the last year that our neighborhood is pretty small. Well, not small in terms of size, but small in that I see a lot of the same people frequently.

So my question is....

Am I hyper vigilant? Do I only notice people because I am a psychologist and I am trained to be observant? Okay, I guess that is two questions. But you get the idea, right?

Sometimes I wonder if people notice me too and if I should say hi. Do you notice things like this? What are your thoughts?

Recharge for the Weekend

I opted to stay home tonight while my husband headed to a party with his law school friends. We have been out EVERY night this week and I need my body to recharge before a busy weekend. I wanted to go to the party, but my desire to lounge in my pjs, snuggle with my puppy, and finally watch the RHNYC reunion and RHNJ premier won out. I am also knee deep in The Associate by John Grisham and wanted to read a few more chapters tonight. I am loving the book and pick it up at every free moment. It will be a very relaxing night!

As for our busy weekend, my parents and brother will arrive tomorrow and we have a lot of celebrating to do! We've got my graduation, my brother's college graduation, my dad's 50th birthday, mother's day, and AJ's completion of 1L. A little something for everyone!

What are your weekend plans?

Awards & New Followers

During April I received a few awards from some fabulous bloggers!!

Sweet Bea, The Cape House, and Miss Type-A gave me the Kreativ Blogger Award.

Miss Type-A also gave me the Cute's Blogger Award.

Thank you so much ladies!

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I've noticed that I have a lot of new followers and subscribers to my blog. As I have mentioned before, when I try to click and see your profiles in the "following box" I usually end of screwing with something. So, if you are new to my blog, say hello (through a comment) so that I can find you and read your blog too!

My Own Domain!

I bought my own domain!

www.alwaysanortherner.com

You will be redirected to my blog if you type in the old address, but please update your reader, feed burner, blog roll, etc. with the new address!

Mitch!

Congrats to Wearing Mascara! The name she submitted received the most votes!

Thanks to everyone who participated and voted!! And thanks to Boatman Geller for letting me be a part of this fun contest!

Really??

I briefly glanced at the headline of this article on people.com when the following conversation ensued....

Me: What! Sarah Jessica Parker is pregnant with twins?!
AJ: No, a surrogate is pregnant with her twins.
Me: Ummmm, how do you know this, but I don't?
AJ: I'm not working or doing anything all day. I know these things now!

OMG. Luckily he starts his summer job on Monday!

Snippet of Our Crazy, Random Life

Thank you so much for the sweet comments! Despite what the pictures portray, the weekend involved a few hiccups. They actually make for a pretty funny and totally random story, so I thought I would share it with you all.

With all the craziness that has been finishing grad school, working full time, and being the support system for a law student, the thought of reserving a hotel room the weekend of graduation slipped my mind. I guess the fact that I always stayed with my grad school BFF during my monthly trips to NC had me thinking I would just stay with her during our May meeting. Except...our May meeting was replaced with graduation, I would have my husband in tow, and her family would be staying at her apartment. Like I said, it all slipped my mind.

I finally realized that we needed a hotel room when I was down in NC for my April meeting. By this time, all the hotels were booked in the town where I went (woo hoo! past tense!) to school. Now, in case you don't know what it is like in some parts of North Carolina, let me explain. There are a couple major cities, a few smaller cities, and then the country. My school is in a small city, and the surrounding towns don't have hotels.

The next problem was that our neighbors that usually dog sit for us are on a cross country road trip, so they obviously were not available. In a world where money grows on trees, I would have boarded our dog at a local pet hotel, but I was not about to spend upwards of $100 for something in DC. So our next problem was that I had to find a dog friendly hotel.

We ended up getting a room at a motel about 25 miles east of my school. This quaint little town is on the coast, and we used to take day trips out there all the time when we lived in NC, so I was actually pretty excited. I was slightly concerned about the $50 a night price tag, but I chalked it up to small town goodness. And obviously we are poor graduate/law students, so we can't pass up a hotel room priced like that.

We arrive on Saturday afternoon around 12:30, and decide to stop in to the motel to see if we could maybe check in early. They had no problem with this, so I was really happy! At first sight, the motel looks like any other cheap hotel on the side of the highway. Certainly not a Hilton, but for a quick trip it would be fine!

We get to our room and it is also fine. We hang out and rest and watch TV on one of those old ginormous box TVs (I'm being such a flat screen snob, but it was pretty funny). It was 90+ on Saturday, so needless to say, we had the A/C pumping. We then shower, get ready, and head out. We leave the A/C on so that when we return later that night, the room will be nice and cool.

We go to graduation, head back to hotel town, have dinner by the river, pick up Kona, and decide that we should pick up some beer to drink in our room. We end up stopping at a convenience store and I run in to grab a six pack. While inside, I about die of smoke inhalation because all the clerks are smoking behind the register. Classic. As I approach the counter, I also notice that a good quarter of the store is full of wigs. Yes, wigs on those weird head stands. There were also boxes and boxes of hair extensions in plastic. We found the elusive random convenience store/wig shop! Seriously?

When we return to our room around 9 that night, the A/C is off, and the room is hot as hell. (Don't worry, we had left our dog at my professor's house during graduation and dinner, so Kona was not subjected to the lack of A/C in the room). AJ called the front desk and they immediately sent a maintenance man to come look at the A/C. After taking the thing apart, determining he needed to replace it, and leaving to go get the new A/C, he comes back and realizes that maybe we just blew a fuse. Hmm, okay. It took 20 minutes for you to figure that out? So he leaves the room for a few minutes and all of a sudden the A/C kicks back on. Problem solved.

We drink a few beers, watch Ace of Cakes, and try to fall asleep on an innerspring mattress. As I mentioned a while back, we bought a generic tempurpedic mattress to help our sleepless nights and solve our back problems. I knew that it was a great buy and that I really liked the new mattress, but after sleeping on an innerspring one for the first time since buying the mattress, I was reminded HOW much I LOVE our (generic) tempurpedic. I eventually put in ear plugs, because wouldn't you know, it also happened to be prom night in town. The $50 price tag was also appealing to the high school seniors. Ear plugs drowned out most of the sounds, but I still could hear doors slamming and our guard dog....Kona was not happy about the commotion and basically growled the entire night.

Then, around 4 o'clock AM the A/C stopped working again. I woke AJ up and made him call the front desk. The super helpful lady told us that the maintenance man doesn't come in until 7:30 AM. Oh okay, we will roast in our room until then. I was so pissed that I left the hotel room and began searching for the breaker. I found it by the stairs and flipped the switch. The A/C roared to life back in our hotel room, but by now, we were all awake.

Instead of doing the sensible thing and going back to sleep, we decided that we might as well leave. At 4:15 AM. We pack our bags, load up the car, and head to the front desk to check out. At this point we realize that we have no gas. We asked the super helpful lady at the front desk if she knew where a 24 hour gas station would be, but alas, she pointed us to a town 60 miles away. Riiight, because we could definitely make it there with 1/16th tank of gas. Luckily, we knew not to drive all the way to that town!

Anyway, we drive around town for a while, crying a little bit inside every time we pass a closed gas station. With the light flashing in AJ's face, we determine that the only way out of this mess is to drive the 25 miles back to the city where my school is located because they will have a 24 hour gas station. This is of course out of the way, but the 17 miles we would have had to travel on the country road to head back home were definitely not going to have a 24 hour gas station. We were also doubting that there would be any exits off the highway with a 24 hour gas station. I'm talking country! So detour we took! We finally find an open gas station, fill up, and head back home on a new route. Needless to say, it was a crazy 12 hours!!

Okay, I think that is enough of a snippet. I didn't mean for this post to be a small novel, but really the random things kept piling up. Luckily, AJ and I were good sports and just kept laughing and being delirious!

So we drive back to the city

Last Chance to Vote!

Today is the last day to vote for the Boatman Geller preppy alligator name! You have until 11:59 pm EST to submit your vote for one of the following names:

Mitch, submitted by Wearing Mascara
Van der Chomp, submitted by Prep-E Girl
NOLA, submitted by Elizabeth KS.

Now go to the Boatman Geller Facebook page, and vote for your favorite!

Graduation....In Pictures!

I know you are probably so sick of hearing about graduation....so I will just jump to the pictures!

This is not the most flattering picture, and the lighting in our hotel room was terrible, but here is the promised photo of my dress!

Some pictures from the ceremony...

With my class!

My Proud Husband!

With my grad school BFF...

So happy to be done!

I Did It!

We are off to North Carolina for my graduation!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Delivery!

A couple weeks ago I won a giveaway hosted by Torch Lake Prep courtesy of Preppy Paper Girl. Well, today my package arrived!




The Scout Cooler was tied to Lilly Dinner Plates with the prettiest grosgrain ribbon. Inside the Scout Cooler were Ribbon Tumblers, Lilly Beverages Napkins, and Lilly Guest Towels!

I love everything so much! I can't wait to bring the cooler to work on Monday. And I will definitely plan a fun party to use all my Lilly paper products! Thank you Torch Lake Prep and Preppy Paper Girl.

In Case You're Wondering....

This blog post sums up my life right now.

Help Me, Please!

So as we all know, I am in the process of applying for jobs. This is the first time I have ever done this (well...for a "real" job), so I am kind of unsure of the process. Needless to say, I need your tips!

I applied for job #1 back in April, and was informed that I would be notified of the status of my application within 10 business days. I love a time line! On business day 10, they emailed me to say they wanted to set up a phone interview. I had the phone interview two days later, and was informed that I made it through to the next step, and that the central office would be in touch in 2-4 weeks to set up a panel interview. It has been almost 2 weeks, so should I wait it out or should I contact them at some point? If I do contact them, should I email or call? I don't have the email or number of anyone to contact, so I would probably email/call the HR office.

(These questions apply to the next two situations as well)

I applied for two other jobs at two different districts in the last two weeks. Neither district has any time line information on their website.

For job #2 I had to mail my stuff (resume & cover letter) to the psychological services office AND had to email the same stuff to the HR office. I did this on the 23rd. Is this long enough for them to process my application? Have they forgotten about me?

For job #3, I applied online two days ago. I know it is obviously really soon, but I am just wondering (again) at what point I should contact them.

Thanks for your help in advance!

Random Thoughts

Work is crazy. I graduate soon. No time to blog. Free time spent searching/applying for jobs. Yada yada yada. You've heard it all before.

Not only has my professional life been nuts, but I have been super social lately. Yay! At least things are looking up on this front. On Thursday night I went out with my husband and his law school friends. On Saturday I went to Gold Cup with Heidi and Madga. On Saturday night we had a brief alley party with our neighbors and then went to another party at Miss Pink Pearls and Muddy Sneakers' apartment. On Sunday I met up with PPMS to retrieve my forgotten phone and ended up spending a good two hours gabbing about lots of stuff at the cutest coffee shop. Last night I hung out with the other hockey wives at AJ's hockey game. Tonight some law school people are coming over to watch the Caps game. Look at me go!! I'm really happy that I have been making an effort to meet up with people and make new friends!

In other fun and exciting news....

For dinner tonight I made my childhood favorite, a casserole, which I frivolously named "Mashed Potato Surprise". My grandma started making this dish way back in the day; she found the recipe on the back of a Campbell's Vegetable Soup can. My parents think it is hilarious that I eat this dish, given my propensity for simple, basic, non-touching foods. Somehow, this was always the exception. It was so yummy and delicious, and the prefect comfort food for a long, rainy day. I love how small things like that can brighten any day!

Few Things

I've had a super crazy week, and am still crunched for time, but I wanted to give a few shout outs!

As you can probably see, I got a super awesome blog makeover courtesy of Danielle at The Design Girl. She is currently having a big sale on basic and standard blog makeovers (they are both $20 off) so if you want a blog makeover too, click on over!

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The finalists for the the Boatman Geller preppy alligator naming contest have been chosen! Thank you everyone that submitted name suggestions!

So without further ado, the three names are...... Mitch, submitted by Wearing Mascara, Van der Chomp, submitted by Prep-E Girl, and NOLA, submitted by Elizabeth KS. Yay! Now go to the Boatman Geller Facebook page, and vote for your favorite! Voting ends May 10th.

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Yesterday Alson had his last final of his 1L year! Congratulations to my amazing husband for surviving what was most certainly a difficult experience. Last night his class had a big celebration, and of course a few beers were had by all. If you've ever had or seen Molson Canadian, you know that they have silly labels on the back. Last night Alson had one that said:

Answer Honestly
Would You Prefer

To be a vampire
-OR-
A werewolf?