Falling Into Place

My biggest struggle with being married to the military, and in life in general, is making peace with the unknowns. I am a planner and like to know what the future holds. These past two years I’ve become better about rolling with the punches and letting what happens, happen.

With Eric’s end of service date approaching and our plans to start a family set I’m itching to have at least a general sense of direction for us.

After a few conversations over Facebook chat, because that’s where all important discussions should take place, Eric and I have a road map of sorts for the next two years.

And, breathe out. I feel so much better knowing that we aren’t heading into 2014 with two potential major changes – a baby and an unemployed husband – and figuring it out as we go. Yes, I know there will be bumps along the way and not all will work out as planned, but at least we now have a destination in mind.

What are these grandiose plans, you ask? Number one and the biggest of all is to start growing our family. Next is the decision to move when our lease is up in July. I really hate that we do not have any outdoor space so I am going to look at a nicer apartment complex tonight and another one on Saturday. And finally, Eric is going to start working towards his bachelor’s degree when he gets home. I want him to be college-educated and I want him to take advantage of his GI Bill as he does not have the option to pass it along to our children. While he is in school I will continue working until mid-2014 when I will begin looking for a job down in the Tampa area where we want to move. Once I secure a job Eric will transfer schools and we will finally have reached most of our big goals.

Here’s to hoping for a successful few years and a lot of good times along the way.

A BIG December Update

This update is coming shortly after my November one because I was such a procrastinator but I have two big updates to share this month and I wanted to get this out on the 1st. Here is an update on my deployment goals for this month – see July’s update here, August’s update here, September’s update here, October’s update here, and November’s update here.

Goal #1: Get a job by mid-July

Status and Part I of the BIG update: I was offered my job permanently and signed my offer letter this past Monday, my first “official” day is this Monday, December 3rd. Before the official offer I had been talking with my mom about what the pay might be like. I obviously had a ballpark of an idea since I was working the same position as a temp but my mom mentioned that I might end up taking a pay cut instead of a pay raise because they would now be offering me benefits. I ended up getting a generous pay raise and am still in a little shock at the salary I make. I don’t say that to brag-I’m in shock because I am absolutely blessed to have such a wonderful paying job in this economy. On top of that I had ZERO financial experience before I started the temp job so I truly hit the jackpot there. I only glanced at my benefits package but I’m pretty sure my company offers awesome benefits. And the people I work with are great! Win win win all around.

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Goal #2: Volunteer (no set date)

Status: Accomplished! I started coaching in mid-October and while very unorganized it has been a lot of fun. The time commitment is a bit more than I had originally been told but I’m rolling with it and it is helping my weeks fly by.

Goal #3: Finish my two nutrition courses by the end of February

Status: Still waiting on my results from my second course and haven’t started my third course yet. Hopefully I will be getting to that soon.

Goal #4: Get and stay healthy and fit

Status: I have fallen off the bandwagon on the fitness front the last two weeks. I think a big part is the time change but I know that’s just an excuse. I am still eating fairly health and this morning when I stepped on the scale I expected to have gained a pound or two or three but have lost a pound putting me at 137. I had to get my finger print scanned as part of my pre-employment screening and the girl administering the scan had to ask my weight. I told her I was probably about 140 and she said “wow, you don’t look like you weigh that”. That could obviously be taken a few different ways but I’m going to take it as a compliment. I know these past two weeks have lacked movement but between eating heathy and the hard work before this little slump I feel really good and it was nice to hear a compliment. Oh and that brings me to a funny story – the guy working the register at Home Depot said I “didn’t look like I was from around here”. I asked him what the heck he meant by that and he said I looked like a model. I won’t lie-that was really awesome to hear! And it motivated me to put a little more effort into my hair and make up this week since apparently it doesn’t hurt.

Goal #5: Do what it takes to stay sane and thrive through this deployment

Status: Doing good, Eric and I have started reading “The Love Dare” and I will be writing a post about that soon. Before he left we talked about using this deployment to bring us closer together and this is doing just that.

Goal #6: Be financially ready to buy a newer used car by February

Status and part II of the BIG update: I was pre-approved for a car loan tonight with an awesome interest rate and will be buying a car when I am home for Christmas!! I am so so excited! I was originally going to purchase the car here in GA but my mom convinced me to buy while I am at home and ship it down here. There will be a small cost to ship it but I will have more time to look (I would literally only have one day here in GA while my mom was in town) and my dad would be a better person to bring with to do a quick look-over of everything. I’m pretty specific on what I want – a white 2011 VW Jetta with heated leather seats and a sunroof. Haha, I know, that’s really specific. Atlanta is a big city but back home we live between Milwaukee and Chicago so my chances of finding close to what I’m looking for are a little higher.

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And without violating OPSEC (because I honestly couldn’t even violate it if I wanted to since I don’t know any dates) I’m hoping I only have two more updates to do before Eric is home!

Fun Fun Fun News!

Well this week has just been overflowing with fabulous news! Yesterday afternoon I was offered my position permanently!!!

Yes, this is the not the field I went to school for or even want to work in but for the next year and a halfish I know I will be employed. We still plan on moving to Tampa, and my boss is somewhat aware of this, but having that stress in the back of my mind on when my paychecks were going to end and where the next would come from was not fun. Now don’t get me wrong, my husband is rocking it out on in the savings account and we are extremely financially secure at the moment. I’m a big advocate of never putting something on a credit card that you couldn’t immediately pay off but we do still have my student loan debt and his car loan debt. On top of that I need a car as soon as he gets home. Before, when my job here was just as a temp, I didn’t know if I could take a loan out for my car because what if my contract ended and I couldn’t find another job? One loan to pay every month without a job is plenty.

So now 3 years after graduating college I finally have a big girl job. Yay!

A Daily Struggle

I know, I know – I just wrote about this but I am struggling. I work full time M-F but the last week or so I don’t have anything to do while Im here. My job is through a temp agency and because of how slow we are I don’t see my contract being extended much longer. I’ve started job searching again but there aren’t a ton of openings out there, hence the requirement to go to a temp agency in the first place.

I was talking to a friend on the phone about this and her advice was “you have a little over a year left until you move, do something fun!” That’s great, but what? What would be fun to me!?! I honestly think a mix of my interest in fitness and my degree in communications would be the ultimate fun job. The problem? Nada, zippo, zero positions like that here. Shoot, I applied to work the front desk at my gym months ago and never got a call back. I am a college educated woman, this should not be that hard. Days like this make me wish I had my own business and I could create my own job. I do have ideas-I would love to open a hybrid fitness and nutrition facility but I don’t have the experience to even begin thinking about that.

I know, complain a little more Andrea. Writing these frustrations out helps though. And at least this helped 5 minutes of my work day pass by.

(ps: I’m thinking about offering free email consultations on nutrition and wellness, would you be interested? I am an AFPA certified Nutrition and Wellness Consultant and I love all things about healthy living. Send me an email if I can help you out! happyhereblog@gmail.com)

(pps: Are you on myfitnesspal? Add me as a friend! myfitnesspal.com/andreas611)

Friday Fun

Maybe my title should actually say Friday “Unfun”. It’s 9 am and I am sitting at my desk with absolutely nothing to do. If you follow me on twitter you would know that this is not a new thing.

I’m currently working in the financial industry via a temp position. Did I ever think I would be a temp worker? Not in a million years. But I am a strong believer that you have to make the best of a situation and after over half a year of no job prospects I bit the bullet. It did not start out well in that my first assignment ended up having the world’s douchey-ist boss but I did get put in a position right away. As in a full time job less than 5 days after submitting my information to the temp agency. Fast forward through the crap I delt with there and once again I was super fortunate in that I was almost immediately placed into another full time, very well paying, position.

Do not think I am ungrateful for being employed in this economy, I know how many would be more than happy to be working here. But, and this is a big but, I don’t want to work in finance. I will not be leaving this position until they end my contract but I think I need to start job searching again. I feel stuck. I graduated college over three years ago yet I feel like I have nothing to show for it. I shouldn’t still need to be looking for entry level jobs. Every year that goes by a whole lot of new grads enter the work force. I should already have three years of experience on them. Another factor to consider in all of this? We are hopefully moving out of Georgia in a little over a year. That’s still too far out to look for a position in the city we hope to end up in.

Maybe this is my quarter life crisis?