Looking Back: 2013

It's been some year, right? Right. I can't believe it's over already though. Overall it's been a great year. It had it's good moments, and it's bad moments, and a lot of in-between moments. I graduated, I interviewed, I traveled, and more. In some ways I'm glad it's over and in some ways I'm not ready for 2014. A year ago I rang in the new year with good friends in Connecticut. This year I really don't even feel like ringing in the new year. Guess I'm getting old.

Jar full of great moments of 2013. Time to crack this open and share some of the highlights.

Looking Back: 2013

• Presented at a conference! I enjoyed the experience and met some cool people! Learned a lot from that conference too. 
• Graduated with my master's! My family came down to celebrate my birthday and my graduation. It was great to show them Pensacola and to introduce them to crawfish at the Pensacola Crawfish Festival!
• Ran my first 5k. The Pensacola Sunset Run, 40:37.
• Got to travel to Vermont for a campus interview at a very unique college. Enjoyed the experience and the change in scenery.
• Interviewed at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Enjoyed traveling to Hawaii, enjoyed meeting great people at UH Manoa, and got to spend a day visiting Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona memorial. Amazing experience.
• Interviewed at the University of Alaska at Fairbanks (the very same week I interviewed in Hawaii). Incredible place and some awesome people too. I also got to reconnect with a FIT friend and have some wonderful boring adventures in Fairbanks.
• Went back to work at Panera and enjoyed it quite a bit. 
• Got to experience a wonderful wedding in St. Augustine Beach. Very happy for my friends and I was glad I got to share the day with them.
• Got a job with Housing and Residence Life at UWF. It was a journey going through my job search process. I wanted to get out of Florida, but in the end I'm happy to have stayed in Pensacola.
• Got to reconnect with a sister who was visiting Pensacola for work.
• Had a great FIT alumna moment when I met with the director of the new extended studies site. Enjoyed making a new connection.
• Adopted my adorable cat Bailey (who I think is plotting to take over the world).
• Started playing in a kickball league. Met some great people and had a blast! Can't wait for the next season.
• Ran my 2nd 5k. I was sick but still ran it in 38:04, a new PR for me.
• Learned how to curl with a couple of awesome FIT friends. Great times with great friends.
• Took some chances that didn't really work out, but the things I've learned made it worth it. 
• Started to bake a lot more and try some new baking adventures, and overall increased my love for baking.
• Met a lot of great people this year. Said goodbye to some friends. Made some new friends.

Cut 13 inches off my hair last December, and it's getting close to it's original length.

Looking Forward: 2014

I'm not one to make resolutions. I think last year I gave up on giving up things. Maybe? I don't know. I never was one to make realistic resolutions that I could stick to.  Well it's about to be a new year, so a new beginning, perhaps? Here's what I'm hoping to do this year.

• Spend less, save more. (Though now a lot of my spending goes to loans, so that may be tough...)
• Eat healthier. I'm toying with the idea of going vegan, but easing into it. So I'm cutting back the dairy. I want at least 3 dinners a week to be vegan.
• Cook more and bake more (but make it healthy)
• No more soda. I haven't been drinking much of it anyway, so it's time for it to go.
• More working out. More running, but also mixing up my workouts. Pilates, maybe some yoga, considering swimming. Just wanting to be more active and reach some fitness goals.
• More time for me. Sounds selfish, but I just want to focus on doing some things that I've been wanting to do for a while. This includes vacation and traveling. I'm hoping this year to make it to one of these places: Washington state, Salt Lake City, or Maine. 
• Unclutter (declutter? unclutter?) my life. 
• Blog more. [laughter]. See what I mean about unrealistic? Thought I'd throw that one in for kicks.

Some positive energy for the new year.

All You Are

First off, I've failed at blogging for the last few months. Oh well, get over it. I have. :)

Yesterday I had the pleasure of having brunch with some wonderful ladies of Alpha Phi. Every other month our alumnae chapter gets together, and it's always a treasured experience. This one was extra special. Though it started with me not wanting to go anymore because I'd have to drive two hours to get there (I of course live the furthest away, and they all live pretty close together) and we were going to a place that was definitely going to cost far too much. But I sucked it up and went anyway. I am glad I did.

The food was expensive, but it was so amazing! The best part was the amazing women I get to spend time with. One of our sisters was diagnosed with brain cancer about 7 weeks ago. She has lived a long, beautiful life and decided to not pursue treatment. She was told that by not pursuing treatment she had about a month to live. That was over a month and a half ago. It is a blessing that she is here with us still. What's even better than that is that she is virtually symptom free. Her only symptom is weakness in the legs that makes standing up difficult. To look at her and talk to her is amazing because she is so full of life and so happy. It's a miracle, it really is. I cannot begin to explain how full of life she seems. You would never know she is sick. When we planned our next gathering (in February) she did not hesitate to add it to her calendar and tell us she'll be there.

I was so inspired by the radiance of this amazing sister. So I thought, what can I learn from her? Lately I've been struggling to run. The last 2-3 weeks I haven't been running because I've had no motivation. Running used to be a stress reliever for me, but it started to become a cause of stress. Seeing this sister so brilliantly full of life and happiness gave me a reason to run again. I have an amazing life and I need to stay in good health, both physically and mentally. So today after work (despite my lack of motivation) I went running. It felt like running used to feel. It relieved stress and it made me feel wonderful. I can't wait for tomorrow's run. I found my motivation and inspiration in the life of an amazing woman.

--

When you're afraid of what your heart says, you fall into place with your excuses

Don't say what you mean if you don't mean it

If you're gonna dream, why don't you dream it?

...to life, you come back to life

When you feel paralyzed and could not care

Well open your eyes and see what's there...

And you follow the light, your heart is strong

And make up the time that you have lost...

The song of the moment in my life:

Into the Professional World

Two years ago today, I moved into my very first apartment in Pensacola, FL. I had no job, enough money to pay the rent through October, and was about to start grad school. Today, I am happy to announce that I am officially a full-time employee of the University of West Florida. I will be a full-time hall director for a first year, living learning community building. I am super excited that I have this opportunity.

So many of you may know (if you've read my blog or talked to me in the past several months) that my job search hasn't been the most successful. There were definitely times this summer when I was ready to give up on searching, but I didn't. It was hard to receive so many rejections, but in the end I was in the right place at the right time to transition into the role I now have with UWF.

I thought it might be interesting to compile some of my job search stats.

Cecilia's Job Search Stats 2013

• # of states where jobs applied for were located: 25
• # of states where jobs interviewed for were located: 15
• Total # of interviews: 34
• Phone intreviews: 5
• Campus interviews: 5 interviews in 5 states
• Schools interviewed with: 26
• Length of job search (from preparing resume to job offer): 9 months
• Length of job search (from first interview to job offer): 5 months
• Being appointed to a position: Priceless

I'm super excited to continue working with the wonderful UWF staff. I'm sad that my last day at Panera Bread is approaching, but happy that the amazing people there will still be in my life. As many of you know, I've wanted to get out of Florida since my years as an undergrad, but I'm really happy to be staying in Pensacola.

I <3 Panera Bread.

Thanks to everyone who has been supportive over these past several months. I had some really rough times, and I never let on to much of it, but I couldn't have made it through all of this without the people around me.

P.S. How many people can say they went to Alaska and Hawaii for free? It was unbelivably worth it! Just sayin'.

Alphabetical Advice

I've been doing a lot of alphabetizing lately so this seemed fitting. 

Challenge: Create a list of alphabetical advice. 

A: Ask questions.

B: Be there for those who need you.

C: Clear your mind.

D: Destroy what destroys you. 

E: Enjoy each moment.

F: Find a place that makes you happy to just be there. (Mine's the beach)

G: Give without receiving.

H: Help others.

I: If you can't find it, stop looking for it, and it will suddenly be there.

J: Jump as high as you can.

K: Keep moving forward.

L: Listen carefully.

M: Make your voice heard.

N: Never let others bring you down.

O: Open your mind. 

P: Promise only if you can fulfill that promise. 

Q: Quiet times should be appreciated.

R: Read for fun. 

S: Start your day right (whatever way that might be for you).

T: Take care of the planet. 

U: Understand that you are as strong ad you think you are. So hold yourself up high (but be humble).

V: Visualize your dreams.

W: When you think you can't go any further, take one more step.

X: X-ercise to stay healthy not skinny. 

Y: You have to love yourself inside and out before you'll open your heart completely to someone.

Z: Zoom through life and you'll miss out on some amazing experiences. Don't be in such a hurry all the time. 

I hope you find some of this advice useful. Happy Saturday!!

There's beauty all around us, but we must take the time to appreciate it.

My Day in 'Bama

Today I went on a day trip to Troy, Alabama. What's in Troy, you ask? Troy University of course! That's right, the very same university Lawrence Tynes played football for. In case you didn't know, Tynes is the kicker for the NY Giants (favorite team, favorite player). And he grew up in the Pcola area. I got to meet him last year at a Blue Wahoos game. 

Anyway, Tynes has nothing to do with why I was there. That was just an exciting aspect of being there. I was there for an interview. I'm not going to speculate on here about how it went. I should hear back next week. So it's back to waiting. 

The campus was beautiful. Beautiful buildings. Lots of green space. Great dining hall. Football. 

Troy is in the middle of nowhere. I had an interesting 3 hour drive there. My car and my phone did not like me along the way so that was great. Lots of farms. Goats, cows, corn. Good times. Oh and it rained the whole way up there. Torrential downpour type rain. 

Overall I would say it was a successful day trip. Here are some photos from campus:

The Packing Chronicles, Part 3, Final Installment

Read: The Packing Chronicles, Part 1
          The Packing Chronicles, Part 2

The Packing Chronicles, Part 3

The Final Installment

Packed, Moved, and Adjusting

It's been a couple of weeks. I'm not only all packed, but all moved. Where to, you ask? Well, not Hawaii, that's for sure. I finally heard from them (via snail mail) and they selected another candidate. It sucks, yes, but I'm over it, honestly. So I've moved in with friends just outside of Pensacola. I'm staying there until August, and after that it's all up in the air. In the meantime I'm working at Panera Bread and also at UWF (Housing gave me a job until I find something else). So if August rolls around and I'm still without a job (by which I mean still with only my two current jobs and no other offer) then I guess I'm sticking around Pensacola, but just not sure where.

Packing went well. I have more stuff than I thought and have realized that not everything will fit in my car at once. Not sure how I will move when the time comes. Things to be determined when I know where I am moving to.

The Two Job Lifestyle

It's not pretty and it's not glamorous. That is for sure. It's not like I haven't done this before. I enjoy it overall. Two days a week I work only at UWF from 8-5. Normal. The other three days I usually start my work day at Panera at 5 AM and work until 1. I then work at UWF from 2-5:30. Since I moved I now have a longer commute (seriously it went from 3 minutes to almost 30 depending on the time of day) I wake up at 3:45 AM when I need to be at Panera at 5 AM. The days that I don't have to be up so early? I wake up generally before 5 AM without an alarm.

I love working at Panera Bread. #PaneraLife

Independence Day Baking Adventures

I had zero plans for the Fourth of July. Shocked? I'm not. So what did I do? Baked. Shocked? I'm not. I woke up at 4am without an alarm. Great time to bake. By 10am I had baked and decorated a cake, baked cake pops, started dipping the cake pops, and even took a nap.

So I baked a firecracker cake. Yum!

And some cake pops that I arranged like the flag.

And some red, white, and blue cookie bark.

Hopefully your Independence Day was not as wet as mine. It's been raining nearly nonstop (though it stopped in time for fireworks to happen). I went out for a drive and saw lots of fireworks everywhere. And hit the beach. The Gulf is quite rough thanks to the storms. The drive was a wonderfully boring adventure.

My First Instagram Video:

Maybe this, really that.

Simple. Honest.

I might not be able to get a job, but I have two.

I may have had over 30 unsuccessful interviews, but I feel more confident at interviewing than I ever have before.

I may have been turned down by both Hawaii and Alaska (two jobs I would've had a tough time deciding between), but I got a free vacation to both, got to reconnect with a friend, and had the experience of a lifetime.

I might not know where I'm living in a month, but I know that I have places to go.

I might hate Florida, but I can't seem to leave.

It might be bad timing, but I'm happy.

There might be times where I feel lost, but I'm happy with where I am.

Life might seem rough at times, but I take a deep breath and realize that I have a lot and I am blessed.

I might feel vulnerable, but I am strong.

This might not be where I expected my life to go, but I'm alive and still breathing.

My life right now described in a song:

I wrote a really long, but honest post. It was too complicated. This one is simple. Don't ask questions because I won't explain. That's the point. Another post soon [possibly even later today...] about the awesomeness I baked yesterday. Hope you all had a wonderful Fourth of July!

The Packing Chronicles, Part 2

Read: Packing Chronicles, Part 1

Packing Chronicles, Part 2

This past Friday, I gave myself three things I wanted to accomplish over the weekend:

1. Dye my hair
2. Cook/bake all the food in my apartment
3. Apply for jobs

 Things from that list that I actually accomplished this weekend:

1. Dyed my hair
2. Attempted to cook/bake all the food in my apartment

Operation Dye My Hair

So I successfully dyed my hair. I've had the hair dye since before graduation because I had wanted to dye my hair for graduation. Clearly that happened. It's a medium auburn brown. So really it's just my hair color (maybe a tad darker) with a hint of red.

Just a hint of red. Easier to see in sunlight.

Operation Cook Everything

I decided I would cook/bake all the food in my apartment so that I could start packing my kitchenware. This way all my food could be in the freezer and all I would have to do is microwave it. Then I could pack up my pots and pans, most of my dishes, most kitchen utensils, and other kitchen stuff that I wouldn't need. Well, Operation Cook Everything was a bit more of an undertaking than I thought it would be. Plus, I actually have a life (surprising, I know) and didn't want to spend every minute of the weekend getting adventurous in the kitchen. What I accomplished to cook/bake:

• Lots of macaroni and cheese
• Lots of fried rice
• Vegan chocolate cupcakes with almond "buttercream" frosting
• Coconut cupcakes
• Couscous
• Quinoa with black beans and corn

Vegan chocolate cupcakes.

Coconut cupcakes and vegan chocolate cupcakes

Coconut cupcakes with coconut pecan frosting and topped with shredded coconut.

Operation Get A Job

Well, I looked at job postings. That's as far as that went. A little lacking in motivation at the moment for that. None of the jobs really appealed to me, and I guess I shouldn't be picky, but whatever. Something will happen. Speaking of jobs, I had a dream last night that University of Hawaii offered me a job and I couldn't decide if I wanted to accept it or not. I woke up feeling completely stressed out - not a great way to wake up. Also, not really sure what that dream means other than I have no idea what I want to happen.

The Packing Continues...

So I'm hopefully going to go full force with packing this week. I have clothes, kitchen stuff, bathroom stuff, and not much else to pack. Oh yeah, and a fish tank. I started preparing today to move my fish tank over to the Housing office, who are inheriting my fish tank because I really can't move with it since I don't even know where I'm moving to. When I say I've started preparing to move the tank, that includes buying a new fish... because that's logical. Oh well.

Meet Cyrus. My new fish, that will soon become Housing's.

My packing/moving advice continued:
3. If you don't want to be distracted while trying to pack, just break up with your computer. By which I mean the battery is dying and needs to be replaced. Not a big deal, it just needs to be plugged in all the time. So, charger stops working. Told my computer that I think it's right about us needing a break. Unlike TSwift, we are getting back together as I gave in and ordered a new charger. I'm lucky enough that I can borrow a work laptop in the meantime.

World War C3 (Caramel, Chocolate, Cocounut)

As I look at the aftermath of what appeared to be World War 3 between Caramel, Coconut, and Chocolate; I realize that I learned a few things today.

1. I do not have a long enough attention span to toast coconut without burning it.
2. I do not enjoy melting caramels.
3. I am never ever ever (hope you sang that TSwift style) making homemade samoas again unless someone pays me (and I promise it will cost more than buying them from Girl Scouts).

So I've been meaning to bake samoas from scratch since sometime in February or March when I found the recipe on Pinterest. (Thanks a lot, Pinterest).Well at first I couldn't make them because I really needed a double boiler or a heatproof bowl. Had neither. Ordered one. Then I just didn't have the time, knowing it would be a whole day of baking. Well now I needed to empty out my baking cabinet so I finally decided that today was the day to get adventurous in the kitchen.

Delicious, homemade Samoas.

5.5 hours later I have about 4 dozen cookies, my kitchen is a disaster, and I have enough ingredients to make at least a half batch of these. Well, I'm going to cut my losses and not bake any more (see list above). They're delicious, but the effort and the mess are not worth it. I'll stick to buying these from the Girl Scouts.

They look so nice here.

They lost some shape when I moved them to the cookie sheet. Oh well.

Completed the messiest step...

As for some other updates: I have not heard from Hawaii. Alaska turned me down. Binghamton University emailed me to say they're still interested, and wanted to know if I'm still interested. Good timing, I think. I have 3 boxes packed for shipping (if necessary), one packed for storage at home, and I have a huge collection of stuff to go to Good Will. I've made decent progress.

Oooh and my hair is getting decently long (relative to where it was in December, of course). Not that you care, but I'm excited about it.

See?

The Packing Chronicles, Part 1

Packing Chronicles, Part 1

So I'm moving! In case you didn't already know that. Where to, you ask? I'll let you know when I know. That's right, I've been packing up my apartment (read: my life) and am getting ready to move to a place to be determined. As you know it is potentially Alaska or Hawaii (still awaiting their calls). If that doesn't work out, then I'm likely staying in the Pensacola area, living with friends, and working at Panera Bread. Sounds like a not so ideal plan, but some days it's the plan I'm most excited about. Everyone keeps asking me which job I'd prefer. Some days it is Hawaii, some it's Alaska, and others it's neither. It's complicated and my emotions are a roller coaster basically (Army Wives isn't helping!)

I hate packing. I like the actual idea of moving, but hate the actual process of moving (except for the awesome road trips involved sometimes). Knowing this about myself, I start packing nearly a month ago, meaning I started gathering packing supplies, getting rid of stuff I don't need, and "organizing" (read: destroying) my apartment. The real packing has been occuring in the past week or so. Really I only have two and a half boxes packed. Not much I know. I am however proud at the amount of stuff I'm getting rid of, but still amazed at how much stuff I have. I'm making progress, but it's slow. I gave myself a move out date... June 18. We'll see if I stick to that, and we'll see where I'm going.

2 full boxes. Not a  lot accomplished.

The start to my list of packing/moving advice:

1. If planning (or potentially planning in my case) to ship boxes to your destination keep an inventory of what you put in each box, and instead of labeling the box with what's in it label it with a number that corresponds to the inventory list. This makes your boxes less vulnerable to theft.
2. Don't get really distracted by something. In my case, it's Army Wives. I watched the first three episodes last Wednesday night and am now about halfway through season 6. Yeah. Packing gets a little distracting from watching Army Wives. haha
3. To be continued... (Apparently I'm not full of advice right now.)

So with all this packing, I'm trying to get rid of all the food in my fridge, freezer, and cabinets. So the next couple of weeks will consist of whatever concoctions I come up with. A couple nights ago I made brownies from scratch. I tossed in some walnuts and some sprinkles. I got a little bit distracted and cooked them a bit too long (see #2 above). So they tasted good, but they were dry. So what could I do with them? Realized I had some whipped cream and cherries that would go well with them. Then I realized I also had chocolate syrup, caramel syrup, and more sprinkles. So really all I needed was some ice cream. Bought ice cream and brought it all over to a friend's where a group of us had an impromptu sundae party. Worked out well.

Tonight's dinner was an interesting concoction. Made a tuna and green bean casserole. I used ziti, tuna, green beans, cream of mushroom soup, cheddar, mozzarella, and parmesan cheeses, paprika (of course), and panko bread crumbs. Probably not the combination of ingredients you'd immediately think of, but it turned out to be delicious. So this one is a success. Hopefully I'll have other successes as well.

Doesn't look or sound like much, but it tasted great!

My Hawaiian Alaskan Adventure

A lot of people have never been to Hawaii or Alaska. A week ago I was one those people. Now, I can say I've been to both. I never would have imagined that in one week I would go to the two states that are not part of the continental US. I'm very blessed to have had these incredible opportunities. Both trips were for interviews, one with the University of Hawaii Manoa and one with the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Last Tuesday I left Pensacola and went to Honolulu. Thursday I left Honolulu, arrived back into Pensacola on Friday morning, and 3.5 hours later (seriously) left Pensacola for Fairbanks, AK, and returned yesterday. I had a total of 10 flights (all with Delta) in only 7 days. I am completely exhausted between all the traveling, interviewing, and time changes, but it is unbelievably worth it for the adventure I was able to have. Both trips I had some time to explore and it was pretty incredible. The interviews went well, and I'd be completely happy working at either place.

Ready to take on interviews.

My first night in Hawaii they took me out for curry (delicious) and then for dessert where I got to try mochi covered ice cream (incredible). After my interview day we went down to Waikiki Beach and got to walk around down there. We ate dinner at a restaurant overlooking the water. Pretty amazing. For my 'fun day' they took me to Pearl Harbor, which was incredible. It was very meaningful and educational. The weather was also amazing! After Pearl Harbor we went and got lunch at a diner. Then went and got shaved ice (at Obama's favorite shaved ice place) which was incredible. It's probably not what you expect, but trust me it's delicious.  After that we checked out a couple less tourist-y beaches which were gorgeous. Then it was back to the airport. Hawaii is now the furthest west I've ever been.

Mochi covered ice cream - green tea, mango, and chocolate espresso flavors

Got a lei for my interview day!

The view from the housing office

Waikiki Beach

The Japanese garden on campus.

USS Arizona Memorial

Kailua Beach

Lanikai Beach

I was back in Pensacola for 3.5 hours. Useless. I had a friend pick me up and take me to breakfast. I switched out my suitcases and it was back to the airport. I was exhausted by that point and had so much more to go still. So I got some caffeine in me and kept going.

Alaska was pretty spectacular. The view from campus was pretty breathtaking, as you could see the Alaska range, including Mt. McKinley. I got to see a baby reindeer! After my interview dinner they gave me a driving tour of Fairbanks. After that I met up with a friend from college who lives in Fairbanks and a friend of his. They showed me the town. I got to see what they called "Fairbanks Beach". Not much of a beach. We went and saw the pipeline (I touched the pipeline!). Ended the night up at this place called Murphy's Dome where we watched the start of the sunrise, and on the way up we saw a couple of moose. We met some people up there and joined by their fire since it was chilly. Then the next day we got brunch at a place on the river, played mini golf, checked out Pioneer Park, wandered about downtown, drove up to Chena Hot Springs, went into the ice museum, drank appletinis out of ice glasses, and then grabbed dinner. Alaska is now the furthest north I've ever been.

The view from campus. It's hard to tell, but you can see the Alaska range.

I was pretty exhausted, but going strong.

Possibly my favorite part of the ice museum.

Me and the pipeline

This is "Fairbanks Beach"

Had brunch here and played mini golf.

Pioneer Park.

The sunset just before midnight and rose just before 4am. It was weird and difficult to adjust to. It never really got dark, just dusk-like. It was pretty cool. The view of the sunrise at Murphy's Dome was incredible and totally worth it.

The view from Murphy's Dome.

This was as dark as it got.

The next day it was back to the airport and back to Pensacola. It was one heck of an adventure and I'm so glad I had the opportunity to go to both Hawaii and Alaska. Now it's back to the waiting game until I hear from the schools.