Donations accepted

So, Jon and I have been house hunting and stumbled upon some amazing houses! We really are narrowing down the style house that we like, what we want to pay and where that all puts us. We have been focusing on staying inside the perimeter (or as close as possible) seeing as we're in a great city that has a lot to offer and would love to be able to do those things without a major commute. The nice thing that we discovered is that there are definitely houses out there that we love. I can't wait to buy something that's OURS. I mean, I feel like a brat because we have an awesome house now but I want it to be ours, you know? If anyone wants to contribute to the "buy Jon and Amanda a house" fund we will happily accept; until then I'll keep playing the lottery and hoping to hit the jackpot.

In other news...I'm still looking for a job and am crossing my fingers that something happens soon. I never thought I could get bored staying at home, but I definitely have! If you have anything that you could recommend to me I'll take that too (in lieu of donations to the house fund)

Music!!

I've added music! I know some people don't want music to start playing the second they go to a webpage (especially if you're browsing at work), but I just love music and think it just gives the blog a different and new element. I refrained from adding too many songs and made it work on shuffle so maybe you won't have to hear the same song every time you visit. If the general consensus is a "no" to the music then I can make it something you have to actually click on to start listening. I'm also toying around with different tunes that would be good for my background music on the upcoming photography website....I'm thinking something David Gray and possibly the "Dream" song on the playlist now. So, let me know, I love opinions! Hope everyone's week is off to a great start!

Ample time

Let's see, so it's been about two weeks since I've blogged and about two weeks since I've worked. One would think that since I have nothing to do I would have plenty of time to write. I used to be so good about writing at least every other day and it's definitely tapered off to more like once every week or two.

Honestly, not too much has been happening since the last entry besides hanging out with friends and spending time at home with the hubby. I traveled with Jon for a week and since then I've pretty much occupied my time with window shopping, soul searching, and being a good old-fashioned house wife. To elaborate...the window shopping is a bad habit. I have to get out of the house at some point in the day and my favorite go-to places seem to be HomeGoods, IKEA and Target. I'm pretty sure I've mentally re-decorated the entire house AND found where I can buy everything that I imagined. Yes, I need a job before I start decorating the neighbors house too! The soul searching has led to the biggest decision and because I don't have time to share my entire train of thought nor want to share the contents of my soul on blogger, the summary is that I have decided to forgo returning to school. I could see myself being a nurse but not myself being a student for three or more years before getting to that point. So, I am currently looking for a job that I will love, a job helping others, a job in which I will have my weekends back, a job that will leave me time for my family and photography, and a job that makes me feel good about myself. At this point I pretty much am a good ole housewife! I cook dinner, keep the house clean, do the laundry, run the errands (you know, dropping off the dry cleaning, taking the dogs to get their nails clipped...the fun stuff that can only happen during daytime hours) and search for jobs between it all. I'm not gonna lie...I'm kinda livin' the life while Jon brings home the bacon.

The joys of unemployment

So, I never thought that I would be so happy to be unemployed. It was such a major relief to have my last day, to have my Saturday to relax and my Friday to hang out without the thought of going to work the next day, to have the chance to travel with Jon on his business trips (we're in Nashville now) and mostly just no stress. I don't really get it because my job was not supposed to be stressful but it caused me so much tension and unhappiness. It has been awesome having a fabulous husband who supports me no matter what and really just wants me to be happy. Well, good job baby...I'm much happier! My advice to everyone out there: You only live once, you spend more time at your job per day than with those you love and if your job starts affecting your mentality, spirit, and happiness....it's NOT worth it! I know that it's hard to give up the income (believe me, this is my biggest struggle) but everyone deserves happiness.

Now, on to the stress that's still in my life...the plan was to go to school. Everything looked great and if you know me well you know that I completely over thought, sketched out and analyzed every possibility with school....or so I thought. Well, the kink in the road is here....I never thought that the classes I would need to take could be full and unavailable. Ugh...I really do not want to be in school for the next four years but really want the end result that school will bring! The actual program is 16 months, not bad right? Well, I've got some prerequisites that I still need to take to be able to start the nursing program. That's the tricky part. They build off of each other, are only offered certain semesters, only offered at certain times (and labs at another), and are unavailable for this semester. I mean, it's just a mess because it's all such a gamble anyways. I could start taking pre-reqs, apply, not get in, be in school for much longer than anticipated, hate it once I get started. There are so many factors working together that it makes me very nervous. Maybe I should just start looking for a job that I will love. One that helps others, one that will make me feel good about myself, one that won't require working weekends and one that has advancement opportunities. That would be great. Nursing is that, but just seems so far away all of a sudden.

Picture: I'm on a business trip with Jon in Tennessee this week. First stop, Nashville. This is our awesome view from our downtown hotel (within walking distance to Broadway too)