Joyeux MerciDonner

I'd like to wish you all a happy Thanksgiving! I've grown to really like this holiday.

Now, I must inform you of my background: Coming to the US at 12 years old, I didn't actually celebrate Thanksgiving until then. Considering we usually have Turkey on Christmas, I was wondering why we had to have two immense meals in 30 days. To me, it didn't mean much. Just a family dinner... and Christmas has always been THE most important holiday for me. At 17 or 18 years old, I remember having mussels and fries like at "Leon de Bruxelles" or something for Thanksgiving (remember, mom?) - and it was so good. Very untraditional, but delicious. 

And tomorrow, I'm off to have a feast with "a new kind of family". No, not ABC Family, but rather my California buddies, who I have to say are just awesome. So far there are 22 people confirmed for dinner tomorrow. Yikes! It'll be awesome fun. On the menu will be traditional turkey, gravy, stuffing and cranberry sauce, and some untraditional dishes such as a Korean dish and I was thinking of making squash au gratin or something, but I have to work on my roux and bechamel skills for that. 

I like Thanksgiving - and this time of year - because it's the anticipation of the holidays. People are nicer, people are starting to think about what they're grateful for, which technically, is something we should do everyday. In fact, that's what the rule of my blog is, and I apologize if I may not have lived up to it on every post... but today, I'm grateful for a lot of things.

I'm grateful that I have found a great group of friends here and will not be spending Thanksgiving alone. I'm grateful that friends I have known for just 7-8 months are able to seek advice for me and confide in me. I'm grateful for friends that want to help me discover L.A. and are taking me out to a bunch of new places. I'm grateful for my family and friends. My family, just like other families, has its own drama... but we all love each other, and I'm grateful for that. I'm grateful that people change and stop judging others before they get to know them or get their side of the story. I'm grateful to have a loving fiancé whom I love and adore and want to spend the rest of my life with, and I know that he truly feels the same about me. And if you don't see that when we're together and start forming your own opinions about how we're too young and stupid to be in love, then you're judging too quickly, so just stop it already. Please. 

So I've been doing some thinking... and I haven't fully decided yet, but a lot of things seem uncertain concerning my job. But basically right now with my job, I may have an opportunity to come back to Salt Lake for good as early as January 4th. Allow me to explain.

My field is creating 19 new positions where one can work remotely from virtually anywhere. With that said, some jobs in our clusters will be lost. Our cluster doesn't seem to be one of them. In fact, we may be able to hire another person, but that's still not certain. So, basically, I'd say there's a 84.37% chance that my job is safe. I'm grateful for that. When will I know though? No clue. Hopefully soon. But if I lose it, I'd like to know soon because the last day for me to apply for the remote position is December 4th, the hiring will be done by December 17th, and the first day to start work is January 4th. You know what's funny about this? That this seems like the perfect plan according to this post back in February. Allow me to post the important paragraph of that post:

From February 28th, 2009:

"So, what's the plan for my next 5 years you ask?

Well, the ideal, perfect plan: I stick with my job for a year and gain some great experience. I find a comparable job back in Utah to start on Monday January 4th, 2010, and my last day at my current job will be on Friday, December 18th, 2009 (I like details, can you tell?). That way I will only have to file one state tax return (quite a pain to do my taxes this year, which Mom and I finished yesterday by the way, hurray!! ). I have a beautiful two weeks to relax for Christmas before I start my new job. I will live at my parents's for a few months to save money, then Babe and I will buy a house ready to go when we get married in August 2010 (I assume August during summer break with school, and so that the Frenchies can come when kids are out of school). We have a wild crazy wedding night. And the rest is... well, we'd like to have kids before we're 30, and I want to know the joys of being a mom before the world ends in 2012 according to the Mayan Calendar. Lol. Just kidding. Sorta..."

Well, would you look at that! To the T. Except that my last day here would probably be December 21st instead of the 18th... sounds like a brilliant plan, right? I could probably live back home for at least a few months, save money as I'll have a comparable salary and no $1400+ rent, and have my life's plan back in place.

Sounds perfect. Except for one thing...

As much as I want to go back to Salt Lake, I'm not sure I'm ready for it yet. I like my little life here in Cali. I like the woman I've blossomed into. I like being independent. I like going out and meeting new people and discovering new cultures. I like all that. Granted, I don't want to raise a family here. But my "fun years" in Cali is plural, so I was wanting to spend perhaps one more year here, maybe 6 months. I do miss everyone in Salt Lake enormously... but I think being away almost makes that bond stronger because you realize it more. 

So... the question is, do I apply for the job. If I lose the one I have now, absolutely. It would be meant to be. "Maktoub - It is written." I will apply, hope that I'll get it, and be back in Salt Lake and be happy. But if I get to keep the one I have now... do I want to right now? 

Last night, as I was taking a shower, I was fixing the curtain rods. I slipped, tripped, and fell flat on my back. I hurt my elbow. Thank goodness I did not get knocked unconscious. What if I did? I'm all alone here, would anyone notice? What if something happened to me? How long until someone would call me, realize I'm not answering, and start to worry? If this happened on a Friday after work, no one would really realize until Monday when I don't show up for work. That scares me slightly sometimes. Ok, actually I've never really thought of it that much because I don't dwell on it, but things like the tub accident last night makes me think of these things and why living alone can really suck.

So this would be another reason why I'd want to go back to Salt Lake. However, I'm still undecided. This is brand new info by the way, we found out about this on a 13 minute brief and weird conference call on Friday.

Anyhoo, enough about this... I obviously have a lot on my mind and need to go to bed. I've shared a lot more than usual today. But basically, I wanted everyone to know that I'm grateful for everyone in my life and my situation. I'm grateful that, heaven forbid, if I were to lose my current job AND not get the remote one, I could come back to Salt Lake and Mon & Brent could take care of me until I get back on my feet. I am really lucky to have such a loving family.

So... now happy stuff! Thanksgiving starts at 4PM tomorrow, I will be making frozen pumpkin mousse pie and who knows what side dish. Ooh, and a salad too. Because my friends like my home-made balsamic vinaigrette :). And the rest of the weekend is just - relaxing and catching up on bills!!!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone, please don't eat too much but enjoy yourself. I know I will :)

Paresseuse

Hi everyone!

Well, it's the happiest morning of my week - the day I get to sleep in till 7:30 or so. Yes, that is sleeping in for me. I love it! 

The weather's not great this morning though. But guess what - it's clearing up! So instead of being lazy this morning, here's my to-do list before go enjoy the near future sunshine:

-Laundry

-Bills & Budget

-Vacuum (there's sand everywhere, it gets stuck in my shorts when I play Beach V-ball)

I already ate breakfast, looked at my inventories and cleaned my kitchen, and it's only 10 AM. Not bad. If I finish everything else by 1300 hours, I might go tan or something if it looks better out there... or maybe buy food, the fridge is empty. Hmmmm... buy food, or get skin cancer.... I have to decide which one is more appealing. I'll get back to you on that.

Other than that, nothing too exciting... volleyball's scheduled to start at 2:30 tomorrow, so I'm excited for that... tomorrow is Mother's Day and in case I don't post tomorrow, I'd like to wish a very happy day to all you wonderful moms out there! It's also my StepMom's birthday tomorrow, so I'd like to wish her a happy birthday! (Mother's Day in France is in June I found out). As to my wonderful mom, she is off to a fun 9 day trip on the East Coast... I hope you have a blast! I'm so glad to have her as my mom, because she rocks and I miss her so much! Sorry I couldn't see you this year... we'll have a mother-daughter day next month when I come over, I promise. I also would like to wish a happy Mother's day to my future mom-in law, who is one of the most caring individuals I know and I know she sees me as one of her daughters... Happy Mom's Day!

Also I'd like to give a shout out to... me, because I worked out 45-60 minutes everyday this week, and lost 2 pounds in doing so! I can do this! Woo-hoo!

Today I'm grateful that it's the weekend, which means free minutes on my phone... lol. Seriously, this is killing me. I get about 4 hours a month, and last night I was having the best conversation with my sweetie, but being the cheapo that I am, after 40 minutes, I said "holy cow honey, it's been 40 minutes... do you mind if I call you back after 9?" Sigh. Long distance sucks. I miss you hun... and hope that I can see you before next month.

Wishing everyone a fantastic weekend.

Wow, over a week?

Well, I'd like to start off by wishing everyone out there a very happy new year! This is fantastic. The start of many, new wonderful things. I thought I'd make a list of resolutions, I'll bore you with them in just a little bit.

First I want to apologize that I haven't posted for a while... the boyfriend's been here and we spent an amazing week together, so I barely had time for that thing called the "Internet." He left last night back to SL, and he'll come back... who knows when. Valentine's day maybe? That'd be sweeeeeeet! I actually stayed at work until 6pm today (got there at 7:20) because... well, honestly I wanted to try and finish something, although it could wait until tomorrow. I usually leave work by 4:30, and at 5 everyone was getting ready to leave. "Geez, you're still here, Lilie? Go home!" "Well, honestly, I have no one to go home to..." and they all felt kinda bad for me. I felt bad for me. I miss ya already, babe :) but also, I knew traffic at 5pm on PCH would be horrible, so I thought what the hey, I might as well leave around 6pm. Well, traffic was worse at 6 than at 4:30... surprise there... I learned my lesson. 4:30 it is.

So now I'm living by myself again, and the apartment DOES feel super empty. It was nice to have company. However, I like to look at the bright side. Now I have time for this blog, I can finally do laundry, I'm going to clean my dining room table that's full of junk, enjoy a beautiful 71 degree weekend in a few days to do whatever the heck I want, maybe walk on the beach (I walked 1h and 45 minutes on the beach by the way last weekend... and got a nice v-neck tan line on my collarbone. Yay! It was only 60 degrees yet capris and a t-shirt felt just fine). I'm also going to start looking at beds because I can't sleep on an aerobed forever (it pinched me the other night! Owie!), dressers, shelves, things of that nature... because my stuff is still just all over the floor. I hate disorganization!

Watched a few fun movies over the week, such as "The day the Earth stood still" with Keanu (not bad, slightly predictable in my mind), "Bedtime Stories" with Adam Sandler - of which I believe the Guinea pig should win best supporting actor, cuz his eyes are just out of those funny eye popping animal greeting cards, and "The curious case of Benjamin Button" - with Brad Pitt, which was SO good in my mind, although it made me cry... I definitely recommend it. Something I'm not proud of... about 3 days after watching it, I had an epiphany thinking about the movie in the shower. "Sweetie, I just realized what the huge clock meant!" "OMG." Good times. I definitely recommend the movie :). Oh, I also saw "Seven pounds" with Will Smith... and I was absolutely BAWLING (ok, I tend to cry un peu beaucoup). Because it's from the director of "The pursuit of Happyness," I thought it would be a feel good movie. I won't spoil it... but basically, it was just really sad.

So, work is... work, boss lady leaving on Friday, and after that I'm pretty much on my own, a little scary, but boss lady's boss will be there to help, but she's got other fish to fry so I can't bug her every 5 minutes. Gotta start working by myself now :)

New Year's resolutions. Here goes.

1. Gained 8 lbs in December (gasp!) Would like to lose those again, and some more. (wow, did you know that the first one would be weight-related? Of course you did, I'm a chick)
2. Go back to the wheat-free dairy free diet
3. Get in shape (walk to the beach, use the gym @ work, do sit-ups on the yoga ball, get a kickboxing and/or pilates DVD)
4. Smile all day long
5. Go to bed at 10PM on weekdays (ha!)
6. Be responsible financially (I's got bills now!)
7. Try to join a casual volleyball team in the spring
8. Limit consumption of chocolate (sigh)
9. Stop eating brownies and cookies at work! (maybe that explains the need for resolution # 1...)
10. Keep loving your family & friends
11. Get a new PC so that I can play Counter-Strike Source in my spare time... and also because I'm sick of this POS
12. Make L.A. County my new home for this year and take advantage of this beautiful area
13. Be the best I can be - at work, at home, with people.

I think that'll do it for now. I guess we'll see next year if I've accomplished all that.

Today I'm grateful for not running out gas in the middle of traffic in LA. Something interesting? Hmmm... I tasted green tea frozen yogurt... and it was... indeed, interesting.

Good night everybody! Glad to be back on the blog :)

'Been a long day...

So today's been a pretty long day... I think I'm just taking in so much information at work, and my boss even told me "you're falling asleep!" (in a nice way) Well, I wasn't quite really, but at some point it seemed that everything she said went right above my head. I spent about an hour reading this development program book made for me (It's about 6 inches thick of blabber) and it seems that in an hour I only read about 8 pages. I don't know why, but I'm really having trouble concentrating these past few days. I have a few theories: I have ADD somewhat and

1) My coworker is playing Christmas music, which is fine but a little distracting so when I read this thing I have to plug my ears (I'm too nice to tell her to turn it down)

2) I'm so psyched about everything that is happening to me right now that I keep thinking about other things - my new apartment, where I'm going to put the couch, when I'm going to call the electricity company, oh, and can't forget internet, where I'm going to buy my kitchen stuff, and planning out my strategy for next weekend... oh, by the way, if you haven't guessed, I GOT APPROVED FOR THE APARTMENT!! Not that I should have had any problems, but you never know, somebody could have framed me :) I'll move in next Sunday as planned!

3) I've been eating pretty badly. As you may or may not know, I've been on a wheat free dairy free diet since June (and have lost 15 lbs since then by the way), slipping up only once in a while. Well, this week I've been slipping pretty much everyday, and I feel.... down, bloated, tired, having trouble concentrating, which is proof that eating healthy is the way to go.

Speaking of eating, I didn't do so well on my vegetarian plan today. Now, I did eat my banana and almond butter as planned, and for lunch I finally finished my P.F. Chang's vegetable curry from last weekend (it was still good, miraculously!) but work had some kind of beef/pot roast thing with a mushroom sauce... and I had to have some. I've been eating way too much, for lunch and at the hotel lounge every night. But I figure, tonight's the last night, tomorrow after work (I get off at 2 by the way, yay!) I'm moving to another hotel with no hors d'oeuvres but I'll have a kitchen, so I'll start cooking and eating healthier. I also spent a pitiful 15 minutes at the fitness center today, after not having gone for over a week.... yeah, my job is great, my life is great, but my body feels like crap. Gotta change that!!

I hear there was a Christmas tree lighting ceremony tonight at 6 not far from here. I didn't go, it's just not the same when you're all alone, plus it's in a dense city where parking is horrible... and I promised myself I'd go to the fitness center and go meet the sales team at the hotel... yeah. Excuses, excuses. Well, hope you're all having a great day... and planning a fabulous weekend. This weekend for me? Saturday - rest and do laundry in a coin-up washer and dryer (never done that before, welcome to the real world) and rest, and Sunday is my work's Christmas party. Maybe I'll go to Ikea or something and start checking out prices for furniture :)

Oh, sorry, I almost forgot. Today I'm grateful that I got the final approval for my new kickin' apartment, and something unusual? On my way from work to the hotel, I saw a guy on a motorcycle, and the license plate said something about balls, and below it was a balloon with two round things dangling at the bottom, next to one another... and you guessed it, looked like balls. And the balloon was blue. Kinda funny. Good night everybody!!

Screaming with joy in the car

Hi everyone,

So, work again is good, still learning new things... I even met the GM of one of the places I'll be managing and she gave me a big hug. Very friendly people, those Californians! That'll be my cool, unusual thing for the day. Today, in the employee's cafeteria (yes, I get free food) we had pork chops with caramelized onions.... so good. I need to cut down on the meat though, I'm having eggs and bacon for breakfast, chicken or pork chops for lunch, and some kind of ground beef wrapped in phyllo dough at night (man, it's good though!). Tomorrow, banana and almond butter for breakfast it is. Might go vegetarian for a day or two to balance everything out :)

So, after the work day is over, I get on Craig's List again to look at apartments, even though I had made my decision to go to SB. Well, SB posts again today... saying ocean view at $1425 a month. So I call her, saying
Me: I'm interested in that upper floor w/ ocean view at $1425 like I saw posted today on Craig's List.
The landLady's really nice by the way.
LL: um... ok, normally it's still $1475 but can you print the ad? If it's there then I suppose we can honor it.
Me: Ok, can I come by with the application, and whatever else I need? Can I come in about a half hour?
LL: Sure! You need the deposit, application fee, and a copy of your DL.
Me: No problem.

So I go and give her my stuff, look at the apartment again, and basically she will let me know either tonight or tomorrow morning if it goes through. Cool beans. I get in my car and start screaming at the killer deal I just got. Not only am I saving $50/month because of my suave confident negotiating skills (which I never had... until tonight) but the move in special makes it also so that I'm only paying about $700 for two months. Plus, I'm in an apartment that I decided is the absolute perfect place for me. I'm also doing a 6 month lease, and I asked if the price would go up after 6 months and she said very unlikely because of the economy. Plus, I can stay month-to-month after the lease is up and keep the same price. Holy crap. What am I grateful for today? I think I just spelled it out for you. :)

So hopefully everything goes through, I honestly don't know why it wouldn't, because I have good credit and a good history, so... but I'll keep you posted! I've decided that I should probably move in on Sunday (14th) instead of Saturday like planned. Why? Because I can just save extra money that way considering the hotel is cheaper per night (sadly) and my parents won't be in Cali till about noon or after on Sunday. Considering I don't have many things, I can just move in that morning and be done by noon. I've even started couch shopping on craig's list and have found some good deals... so I think I'll save my ikea gift cards for something else.

Getting excited! I hope you all had a fantastic day, and wish you a pleasant tomorrow.

2nd Day as a Cali resident

Hi everyone!

So today, work was probably even better than yesterday. I think it's because yesterday I woke up really early, so was tired, and got a headache at the end of the day since I took in a lot of info. But obviously, still a good day with a great job. Today though, I already felt more comfortable with stuff. My boss is impressed with how quickly I learn, in fact she doesn't worry about me. She even tells me that if I need to leave early to visit apartments and such, no problem because we've got a month to learn everything which is plenty, and it's important that I get settled. Yay for a cool boss!

So I decided to go to Milano after work and turn in my application. I was so excited. Well, at around 1:30 pm I call them, and found out that it's been rented as of the night before :(. Well, not a tragedy... I still had one other great option, and another still very decent option. So I call SB and CM, both on the same street, to see if they still had theirs available. They both did. I stopped by both after work to get another feel for it. To be quite honest, I believe I'd be happy with both. But I really think I'd be happier in SB too. The differences?

SB: 1 bedroom, second floor, corner unit so not many common walls, nice & clean, newly remodeled, 2 story, californian, small kitchen, fridge, dishwasher, oven & stove, laundry on site, gated and covered parking, gated pool and decks, gated entry, nice views (not of parking lot or neighbors) including ocean view.

CM: Studio, large kitchen with everything too, optional privacy wall for bedroom area, but seriously it's only 4 ft tall... first floor, 3 story building, pink door, pool, laundry, covered parking, gated entry, getting remodeled too except the old pink door, lol.

So, again, prices:

SB: $1475, utilities included except electricity ($15-20 a month). Move in special of $700 dollars, so over a 6 month lease it's over $100 saving per month, so we could say $1360.... although I don't like to think of it that way. 6 month leases and $300 deposit.

CM: $1250, no utilities included, 6 month leases, $300 deposit. Nice landlady, husband is from Idaho and talks a lot.

So, that's my day... You're probably thinking, why didn't you jump on either one today after work, didn't you learn your lesson from Milano? Well, you may be right, but I still don't like to rush, although I'll most likely be making my official decision tomorrow. Feel free to let me know what you think...  

Before I leave you, what are you grateful for today? I'm grateful that there's still 2 apartments available that I like. Something unusual? In Cali they don't have decorated Christmas trees on the streets, there's decorated palm trees. It still looks cool :)

Good night everybody!!