Em
TGIF!
Congratulations! We have made it to the end of the week Friends. The blissful Friday mood swing is in full force. Smiles are on faces and the motivation is definitely not in work today. What is even harder is that it is nice out and I get to go home today. Friday’s for me lately are bittersweet because the day seems to take forever because I know I will be able to drive home and see my husband, my cat, and sleep in my own bed but it also means I will have to leave all that once again come Sunday.  Weekends seem very diminutive to me lately. I also had to make the hard choice of going back to my house or down to my parents’ house for my Pa’s birthday. As everyone knows, I do like to spend birthdays with the birthday person but this was a hard decision. Again, you all know just how close I am to my Pa so I do really want to spend his day/weekend with him. It breaks my heart that I can’t give him his birthday hug and have a Jack and Coke with him. Please don’t judge me, friends. If I went home this weekend, it would mean that I would have been a total of four weeks away from the above mentioned (My husband, cat, home).I know I know. I am being a little selfish.  Next weekend I will be driving to Starbuck, MN to get my butt kicked by my (Younger) cousin in my second 5K of the year. Being that my new working location is nowhere near my house in the Duluth area, it would make sense to leave directly from here rather than a 4 hour detour. Thus, I will not be heading to my parents for the birthday festivities.  In place of that, my list today is going to my favorite things that I have learned from my dad (that my mom may or may not know about) J
Things that I Have Learned from my Dad (that my mom may or may not know about)
·         Driving 14 hours is well worth it when you are hunting in God’s Country.
·         The best place to take a nap is on the floor of a combine in a Carhartt jacket.
·         Old televisions make for great target practice. Propane tanks are even better.
·         The best way to learn if you drive safe under pressure is to have lit matches thrown at your feet while you are driving.
·         The record for swapping seats (driver to passenger and vice versa) while driving is 3.2 seconds.
·         Swing sets can be transformed into a rope mansion. As can hay bales.
·         It is possible to Robin Hood an arrow.
·         There really aren’t turbo buttons in old Dodge pick-ups (or is there?).
·         If you are too young to drive on the road, take to the ditches.
·         Shooting my first deer is one of the best adrenaline rushes I will ever have. The same goes for my second, third, fourth, etc... I will never forget those days and how happy I am and how proud you were.  
·         If there is a hail storm and you have good insurance + an old car, drive faster. Make the dents really count.
·         I will never be too old to call my dad for advice.
·         If my kitty “disappears”, I shouldn’t worry. I will always get another one. J
·         Asking for a pony really does work.  
·         The best tunnels are made out of snow and the best sledding is only done on Comet, the purple sled.
·         Only eat snow in front of dad. Mom will scold you.
·         Boys really do get mad if you’re the best shot in gun safety class.
·         Always put the dairy queen containers on the bottom of the garbage or dispose of it elsewhere before you get in the house.
·         Never leave empty shell casings on the windowsill otherwise mom isn’t going to be very happy.
·         Have one bottle of Jack Daniels on the Shelf and take from that every now and again but keep one hidden in the garage, that way mom won’t know how much you actually drink. She can just look at the shelf for reference.
·         Starting things on fire is awesome. Really Awesome.
·         If you keep the tags on your new clothes, people will always know that they are new.
·         Don’t leave paper in your pockets when you put them in the laundry or you will get a talking to.
·         Only sneak the cookies that look like they won’t make in on the plate in the first place and be sure to grab and go. Don’t linger after eating sneaking cookies. Make it a drive by cookie attack.
·         The most serenity one can find is sitting in a fishing boat with good company before the sun comes up with a fishing pole in the water, complete with a bag of Cheetos and Pop tarts as the white horses roll across the lake. This will really show how much you like another person. If one of you is wet by the end of the day, might was well call off the relationship.
·         The best way to repair you favorite pair of sandals is with bolts, screws, one washer, and duct tape.
·         A dad is a day brightener, a life saver, and a heart warmer.
I still feel like your little girl when I look into your eyes. If I can be even half of the person you are, I will consider myself to be an extraordinary human being. Thanks for showing me the way, Pa. Happy Birthday! I wish I could be there with you to celebrate.  Have a Jack and Coke for me!
 I love you Pa. Happy Birthday.
Em
Happy Thursday!
Here I am, telling you that I won’t take a long break and I did it again! I am always saying that you shouldn’t get caught up in the hustle and bustle of life, but it seems I am doing so. I am going to practice what I preach. Let’s all sit back, relax, and take a much needed deep breath.  Now that we are all Feng Shui up in here, I am going to let you all in on a not so secret secret:
Whoa-oa-oa! I feel good, I knew that I would,now
I feel good, I knew that I would now
So good, so good, I got you
Whoa! I feel nice, like sugar and spice 
So nice, so nice, I got you
I feel good, I knew thatr I would now
I feel good, I knew that I would now
So good, so good, I got you
So good, so good
This moment was brought to you by James Brown and my ever-going exhilaration. Why is today such a feel good day? Well friends, the birds are singing, the sun is shining, the fluorescent lights in my new office are especially bright today and they are buzzing with anticipation (it’s  more like a drone of annoyance, but I am still enjoying every moment!), and I have never felt better. For all of you that caught the hint there in my last sentence (and for those of you who have no idea what I am talking about) I am pleased to announce that the interview went swimmingly, I passed all of the tests, and I am the new Bookstore Technician at a campus within my college’s system. Can I get a “WootWoot!”  This has been my ultimate goal in life and I never would have thought I could achieve it so early. I am going to get a little Academy Awards (can this be an adjective? Well, I am using it as one!) on you at the moment.
 I would first like to thank Cory, who told me that I should go for this in the first place. His never ending support and love has made a difference and I can’t wait to start this new chapter together. I love you. Now go and sell our house! P.S. I can’t wait to see you tomorrow.
 I need to thank my parents also for their support and making me that hard worker I am today. I apologize for all the times I was a brat and didn’t want to do the chores. Thank you for making me do them anyways J You two are my role models and I hope you know that I wouldn’t be where I am today without you! I love you.
To my sisters, who have all helped me get here. Holly, for calming me down and helping me sleep before the interview day and never getting annoyed with me and my many questions. You are always there for me. Always. You are such a beautiful person and I hope you know just how much you mean to me. To Abby, for motivating me in many many ways. You have helped me learn a new way to sort out problems and feel great about myself. You always put a smile on my face. P.S. You should call me. To Katie, for having my back and looking out for me. I do appreciate the offer of bombing the school if I didn’t get the job. You are my true home-girl yo! I love each and every one of you.
To my friends, for also supporting me. I need to give a shout out to JMe who is offering me a place to crash during the weeks I am without a home in my new town. I promise to clean up after myself, not use your toothbrush when I forget mine, make you some of my wonderful lasagna, only sneak some of your food, and protect you from punks who are trying to get money from you. Your kindness astounds me. I also need to give a shout out to Sara. We have become the best of friends and I truly am sad that I won’t be able to see you every day. I want you to know that you have helped me out every step of the way even though it meant separation between us. You are one of the most amazing people I have ever met and am truly sad to leave you. But, what this does mean is: Road trips, weekend plans to see dancers who may or may not be in leather chaps, e-mail galore, and the best of friends no matter how many miles are between us.  
To my co-workers (who know who you are) who have helped me land my dream job. To one specifically, it takes my breath away how compassionate and supportive you have been. I have said this a lot, but I don’t think I would be in this position if it wasn’t for you. You have been with me through a lot, so here is the next stage of life. Eight years of working together is just not enough, so here’s to eight more plus some! Thank you, from the very bottom of my heart.  To all my other co-workers, it is because of you that I can start this new journey right away. This truly is a great place to work and I am so blessed.
To Christine, for randomly e-mailing me one of the sweetest e-mails I have ever received. I believe that we are two of the same people and I hope you found the love and happiness you were looking for. Your well wishes were felt. Thank you.
To my cat, Elvis. You have always been there to snuggle and cuddle. I wish you would talk to me more on the phone when I am away because I never know what you are truly feeling when I am not there. Please work on that. And stop eating my sweaters.
To the realtor who is going to sell our house right away, thank you. Thank you to the people who bought it the first day it was on the market. This is all premature of course, but it’s going to happen….right? Might as well say thank you now!
Phew, just reading this list shows just how blessed I am to be living the life I am in. It is the small things in life that make it all worthwhile, but the immense things in life are also great. I am nervous, excited, sad, happy and so very grateful for everything and everyone. I hope all of you join me as I start a new journey in life. Bring in on, life. Bring. It. On!
Here’s to wishing all of you a very blissful Thursday. Tomorrow, I will once again get back on track and have a fantastic list for you along with my TGIF greeting.  Farwell for now my friends. I will see you tomorrow.
-Carpe Diem
Em
TGIF Friends.
For all of you out there wondering where I have been, thank you. I have felt your thoughts come my way. I do apologize for the lengthy hiatus I have been on. I gave you all no warning that I was going to be gone and then *poof* I am. Hopefully, this will never happen again. The break was too long and I have sincerely missed you and the writing. At this moment, I feel as if I am again being uplifted. It has been too long basic black keyboard with the ‘e’ almost worn off. My hands feel a sense of freedom as they type my train of thought. *sigh* It feels good to be back, my friends. I hope the world has been treating you with love, kindness, and happiness.
I will get down to the point. These past couple of weeks I have been living out of a suitcase, in a hotel that now feels at home (I am thinking about changing my mailing address), and am learning new things each day that makes my mind feel in awe of itself. Getting right down to it (I think I already said that, but in true me fashion, I am going to type more than necessary. See what I did there? J) Okay, okay. Here it is: These past weeks I have been working at another campus within my college’s system at their bookstore. This is an opportunity that took me by surprise and I am loving every moment of it. The college sent me to another campus to kind of “Try Out” for the position of my dreams. Because of events that I don’t need to get into, the position was open but they needed someone to hold down the fort. Enter me. I heard it through the grapevine that this might happen, so I told to the Bookstore director, who has been so supportive of me from the beginning, that I would be very interested in helping out if the need arises. I can’t stress to you how much this is my dream job. I would be the ‘manager’ of a college bookstore. How cool is that?!? I have so much to learn and so much to do, that is has been crazy, fun, stressful, stimulating, tiresome, lonely at times, adventurous and daring all at the same time. Because of the support that I have received from my co-workers, family, friends and my husband, I am going for this job in a no regrets kind of way.  The interview is going to be coming up this Tuesday, so please friends, wish me luck. I know that there are other great people applying, so my fingers are crossed that the committee can see how passionate I am about the work that I do.  I thought that by buying a house in a town I love and working at a job I love, a chapter closed in my life. Never would I dream that the chapter would only leave me with cliff hanger and keep on going. If this goes through, we will need to sell our house (that we bought a little over a year ago), live apart for a while, buy a new house, and relocate our lives. Cory and I are hopefully going to start a whole new chapter together in a whole new place and it is going to be a thrilling ride! I can’t wait.
For everyone who is reading this, I just want to remind you that you should never take anything for granted. Keep your dreams alive. Look into the stars and truly go for your goal in life. I was perfectly happy where I was in my life, and now my happiness is brimming with anticipation. If I don’t get this job, sure I will be disappointed, but if the worst case scenario means that I get to go home to a loving husband, a fat cat, and a job I love, so be it. The experience was grand!
 My life is truly one that is full of blessings and my happiness shines throughout the heavens.
It really is the simple things in life that truly do make it all worthwhile. Enjoy this Friday. Smile, because you are amazing.
-Cheers