Back to the Drawing Board

The Macy's offer.. was not something that I could accept. The job just did not fit into my "budget".. after all, eating- is something that I like to do.

Another job told me that I was "absolutely perfect", however, since I had not had exprience in "being the Assistant to" a large crowd of 1,000 people- although she loved my experience, that she was going to have to wish me well. How the hell do you get that sort of expereince to begin with?

I have an interview tomorrow at Regency Beauty Academy in Brooklyn Park- it would be for their Corporate Headquarters. We will see how that turns out. They are another one that seems to be enamored with my experience and passion... (((bwauhhhhh bwauhhhhh))) Arent they all?

I swear if I look at Careerbuilder, HotJobs, JobDig, FlipDog, StarTribune, Craiglist and PioneerPress .. one more time, I swear I may have to wear plaid stir up pants with coordinating flats and fake hair in my pony tail.

My Dex

There is this new show on Showtime that I am totally digging... its witty, well written, great acting, sometimes graphic (blood) based on a book written by some crack pot- I'm assuming (if you saw the show, you'd know why I say that)!
Anyway, the show is called Dexter...



Dexter is a forensic scientist with the Miami PD- who happens to also be a serial killer who kills serial killers - for the greater good!

His sister is a cop on the same force. She has been tracking another serial killer- who happens to be her boyfirend and the boyfirend serial killer and the brother serial killer are playing games with each other (via newspaper ads and Barbie pieces left fridges) - but neither one knows each other....and the sister has NO idea that either one, is a serial killer.

The boyfriend- is a Dr. as well (makes new limbs for patients)

Ohhhhh its gooooood tv!!! So now that you are all caught up (well, except you havent learned about Dexter's childhood) you should start watching.

Im all a twitter

They like me, they REALLY like me.

Strike that- they LOVE me!

I was offered a job today- YEAH ME!

Now comes the negotiating- the "dealing with those HR be'otches"

- Ohh yeah, I AM one of "those" HR be'otches..

It will be a great opportunity, and she (the Account Executive for ORIGINS Cosmetics) was VERY excited about my experience and how I seemed to flawlessly pass their interview "assessment" process.

You know, I have a few other things cooking still and we will see what path chooses me- but finally- someone hired me!!

I ALSO recieved a call from Regency Beauty Academy- they are in need of an Educator. That is right up my alley.. and I would LOVE to do that again.

We will see where that leads.

You know- Macy's asked me if I took risk's and my comment was this:

I just spent 40+ thousand dollars on a business degree with a minor in Human Resources- so I could work where my passion lies- which is Cosmetics, Hair and Retail and NOT in a Corporate environment where anyone could work- and start off in an entry level position at that-

I think that is a risk.

A bridge gone too far

Growing up, our family vacations consisted of always going someplace SOUTH, because my father is a Southerner.

We thought our dad was much like the Queen of England back in the early years of the world being discovered... that if we were to venture any where North, we would surely fall off the face of the planet.

At least we as a family got in the car and spent good quality time together- no matter how much of that time was much like National Lampoons Vacation.

This one year however, dad decided that we were going to tour the Rocky Mountains, which if you are 10 and 8, that is pretty cool. When we finally reached our destination, somewhere near the top of "a" mountain in the Rocky Mountains- we got out of the car and went into the gift shop and bought our tickets for the tour.

As part of our tour, we had a guided tour with caves and a self guided tour. The caves were really cool, because they had little scenes set up along the way and lighting for atmosphere... however, when we got to the point that we could do our self guided tour, my dad took over.

Everything was fine until we came upon this:


Now as kids, we dont automatically think of death when we look at landscapes and bridges!

Its only AFTER our father gets us half -way -across -and -he- scurry's -the -rest- of -the -way -over -so -he -can- bounce- and -swing -the -bridge- to -terrify -us- that we think of death.

Ohh its true. He loved seeing the look of shear terror on our little faces. As we stood there frozen with fear.. he tried to play it off as a little joke, but the damage was done.

That day was forever cemented into our memory bank- the smell of the air that day, still lays fresh in my nostrils- the look of the rocks and the creek below still run through my head- but I hold no grudge.

Ohh those family vacation's- good for the soul.

Rocks in my bag

Its funny I was "surfing the net" and came across the this purse, and it reminded me of a purse that I use to have as a young girl.

One summer my aunt went on a cruise to some Caribbean island and brought me back this brown leather purse, and I used it for quite some time. My brother and I use to have to walk up the block to the bus stop, however, my brother and I use to go at different times.

This one year, he was having issues with people bulling him and it got to the point where his big sister needed to step in- after all I am his BIG sister and he is my baby brother - in case you missed that. I got home a bit earlier than he did and emptied out my fancy shmancy brown purse, went out to our "rock" driveway and filled my purse full of rocks.

I proceeded to walk up to the bus stop and hide behind the trees to watch and see who was bullying my brother.When I noticed that it was people that would not pick on him IF they new that I was his sister, I made my move. I casually walked out from behind the trees and got behind them and up to where my brother was and asked if "they had an issue with my little brother?" I think one of them asked, very shocked, "Thats your little brother?" ..and I of course responded "It is, and if I hear you picking on him or any of his little friends again.. I'll be coming for you" ...because I was OHH SOOO threatening when I was a teenager.

Actually when it came to my brother, I had a bit of a reputation with his girlfriends and the public at large. He went to a different school than I did- so I had to protect him- and I did just that. After that one day- he never had another bully nor was he ever dumped- thanks to me!

Back to the story: when we got back to the house that day - my mom happened to see me dump the rocks out of my purse and asked me what I had put rocks in there for. I told her the story and she just dropped her head and snickered.What else was she going to do with me?

Stay tuned: I'll tell you about the time that I threw the dirt clog at my neighbor Chris Rackley for trying to kiss me. It had to be 26 years ago and he STILL tells me about to this day!

Ella and the tree

Ella is the newest member of our family.

She has been with us now for 5 weeks and is about 12 weeks old. We adopted her from Last Hope Adoption @ PetCo.

Ohh yeah, its true enough- she is very cute, very cudley, really sweet and very much a spaz.... and we are all totally in love with her- we can hardly stand it.

Vinnie even kinda tolerates her-

What I dont love...


<--- She loves the Christmas Tree just a little too much!!

She likes the bulbs
She likes the lights
She likes the tree skirt
She especially likes to climb the tree

wheeze...... wheeze...... wheeze..

So here I am, on day 14, 743 of having an Acute Upper Respiratory Infection a.k.a. Walking Pneumonia and it sucks.





My lungs are tired, my muscles ache and I am ready to be over this already, but the funny thing is- I had an interview last Wednesday that I HAD to go to... and I actually went.



I pulled into the parking lot.. ate about 4 cough drops.. and opened up a piece of peppermint gum to chew to help mask the smell of walking death that seems to be following me. I fluffed up the hair, re-did the lipgloss and straightened up the suit- yup, I looked pretty good.

I got out of the car and walked in. As I got inside- I prayed- actually, I pleaded with the gods- to NOT let me bark, cough, wheeze, and/or snort the entire time that I was in there- and they must have listened, because all seemed to go well.

I was at my interview for an hour, and I hope that I get a call back. My application was chosen out of 90 others.. and only 7 applicants were asked to interview that day-and that's something right??

Christmas of 1980

Every year at Christmas, my brother and I would eagerly await for wrapped packages to be put under the tree.. and then wait for Christmas eve to arrive. Of course, we did not wait very patiently.

We became, well, I became very creative in the way that we figured out WHAT we were getting from "Santa"... I always made my brother be the look out and then if we were ever caught, I would of course blame him, not that anyone would believe me.

This one Christmas however, I thought I was being very clever in the way that I was going to get to the bottom of what was in our cleaverly wrapped gifts under the tree- all marked "from Santa" all in my mothers handwriting. I decided to take the sharp edge of the scissors blade and slide along the edge of the tape, and carefully unfold the end of the paper to open it up to see what is inside.

Now I know what your thinking... and your right, it DID ruin my Christmas to know that I was in fact NOT getting the Holly Hobbit Sewing Machine that I desperately wanted and that I was in fact, getting some scary Mortimer Snerd Ventriliquist Dummy that to this day gives me nightmares and the heebie jeebies to watch movies with dolls in them... It came to life at night, it really did!!!!!

((((((shiver shiver))))))))

So anyway, my brother seemed to fair much better than I did.. getting his Luke Skywalker Action Figure (that was of course Barbie Size) and a Hook Line & Sinker game... if you landed on the Skunk.. you had to scratch his tail and smell it.. it actually smelled like Skunk!

Yeah, we - well, me - were a couple of stinkers. Its a good thing my mamma still loves me- I was a trouble, I admit it!

My fat lip

I've been thinking of my childhood and my little brother a lot lately, when a particular memory came to my mind.

My brother and I didnt really have a lot to do in our small town of Hamilton, Illinois-especially in the winter.. so we made up things to do and we were expected to play outside.. for a large majority of the day,after all- that's just what you did in a farm community.

This one day however, it was blistering cold and snowing, it was probably a snow day. My dad worked for General Mills and brought home these 50 gallon drums (sometimes they were full of the berries they would use in cereals) but mostly they were empty and he would use them for his household projects.

and I noticed that there was this PERFECT circle of ice
on the top of the barrel lid
<---
I told my brother that we should lick it
and he didnt want too..
So I decided that I was going to.
After all, it was the PERFECT ice to
lick.. and it wasnt dirty... or scratched
up.. and touched in any way..
The Ice was calling my name.. and my brother was
telling me to do it.. so I walked over to the drum..
stuck out my tongue...

and


the



inside



of my



bottom



lip


was drawn to the ice like dark forces had somehow possed my lip. Yep, I was stuck! By this time, my brother was partly laughing and crying out of concern. I tried to have him go get our mother but of course, younger brothers are of no use to you, when you are hurt and waiting for the wolves to come and get you.

I sounded like the Tin Man in the Wizard of Oz.. squeeking out.. "Get some water"

Finally, I just had to pull my lip off the ice- but all the drool seemed to help just enough. I tell ya, those were the days!

A girl and her lipstick

Im standing at a crossroads.. wondering which way to go.. and Im stuck

One road is dark, a bit muddy and I can tell that there will be some hills along the way. Ive studied the map, yet, I'm not sure that I want to take "that" particular road.

*yet*

The other road, does not appear to much better, although I have traveled it before. I think I remember where it leads. Even though I have been here before, my travels will not be easy.

Road 1: HR:

Road 2: Macy's
I have said all along that I wanted to get my degree to go back into the Cosmetology / Cosmetics industry - THAT is where my passion lies. I can do HR within that feild easily. To do that, I dont expect to waltz in and take over an HR department.. that would be ridiculous... however, starting over is a bit scary to me.

I had my interview at Macy's on Saturday- and it went VERY well. My interviewer started off like she started off every interview Im sure.. when I showed her my portfolio.. the air in the room changed, her body language changed and all of a sudden... her whole attitude changed. Not that she had an attitude before... but, she started to talk with me differently.

After a few minutes, her focus had changed to opportunities within Macy's and the individual counters and what could be possible for me BY January.. if I were to start.

Have I told you how passionate I was about this ???

<-- THIS is what gets my juices juicing.
I cant help my kids with
their math homework
but I do amazing things
in this industry.

So my interviewer mentioned that she was going to chat with HR and a few different Account Rep's from a few different lines to see if we can put me into a Counter Manager position immediately- with hopes of moving into an Account Rep position or even higher.

Why this is a more difficult decision for me is, I really DO want to do HR... however, I really DO want to do this as well...

..is this step down.... or a step in my new career to get to where I need to be? After all, my degree is a Business Mgt Degree for crying out loud... with a minor in HR..

I think I know my answer...



Well, I DO have an interview at Sodexho on Wednesday.. maybe that will be the company to change everything!!

the 411

A quick update for all those inquiring minds out there:

Interview on Saturday @ Macy's
Interview on Wednesday @ Sodexho in Eagan
My resume was requested at the new Grand Lodge Hotel
in Bloomington so- yippee skippee

I'll let ya know how things go!