Lots and lots of life lessons have happened along the way, some big some small. Among them:

*Rooms look smaller when they are empty. J and I were seriously wondering how in the world we would fit a kind sized bed in our new bedroom. Turns out you can likely fit a second one in there with NO problem. Lesson: Always bring a measuring tape to a new apartment

*I’ve been trying to eat healthier. This includes making salads at home. I discovered that I absolutely LOVE pear salads, so I’ve been buying the ingredients to make them at home. However, the dressing can be a ton of calories, and feta cheese isn’t exactly the lowest calorie food either. So I’ve been buying the reduced fat versions. Still super tasty! But then I made the mistake of buying reduced fat (2%) cheddar cheese for my sandwiches. It’s disgusting. Lesson: Most reduced fat things actually are gross, especially cheeses. Use caution when buying, and buy the small pack the first time, just in case it’s gross! I now have a gigantic pack of lowfat cheese that will most certainly find its way to the garbage.

*No matter how much planning you do, when the word “wedding” is included in said plans, something will go awry. Another example: our chuppah rental fell through 44 days before the wedding. Hooray! Now we’re 22 days out and still don’t quite have one. It will get done, but still. Lesson: Be flexible.

*Driving to and from the bachelorette party took a crazy amount of time. 9.5 hours to get there, almost 10 to get back. Why? Because traffic sucks. And they’re doing construction on the 5. When it says “I-5 reduced to one lane 30 miles ahead, consider alternate route”, one really should consider alternate routes (which ones, I’m not sure, but maybe one exists?), especially when that sign is followed by another that says “expect 1 hour delay”. Lesson: Leave at 3am or avoid driving altogether. Airfare = worth it!

*My boss’s daughter is training a puppy to be a service dog. However, she’s currently interning this summer, so while she’s working down the street she leaves the dog here. The dog has learned the sound of the door and knows it’s an opportunity to escape. A few days ago he got out and ran down the hall. My boss then chased after the dog, and I couldn’t stop laughing. Lesson: When your boss brings a puppy to work 3 days a week, prepare to just sit back and laugh.

*I have a coworker that is probably just overworked, but it really causes a lot of errors. Major errors. I now have a couple of situations that are causing me a ton of work to fix. Lesson: When this particular person says she’ll handle it, don’t trust her. Do it yourself from the beginning.

I don’t know if I’ve already mentioned this, but we also found out we need to move. And by that I mean we learned of a 12% increase in our rent. Screw that!

The apartment hunt was something I wanted to get over and done with quickly, but that just added stress. In the end I think we picked the right place. I feel comfortable there, it’s not too much of a down grade from the amazing place we have now, and we are saving an incredible amount of money. Oh and we didn’t have to move too terribly far (maybe 5 miles?). Not bad.

And now to focus on the wedding. And packing/picking a moving company. But mostly the wedding. This weekend I hope to have purchased our wedding rings, politely bitch out the caterers, and get some documents done. Within the next two weeks I need to deal with linen rentals, finalize groomsmen attire, start working with the offiiant to create the ceremony (seriously HOW does one fill 15 minutes???), and finalize picture selections for various things that require pictures.

Oh and I’m changing up my work a bit, just to add some complexity to an already overly complex situation. My head very well may explode.

Weeeeeee!

I think it all went to shit when I attended my cousin’s wedding two weeks ago. Don’t get me wrong – it was AWESOME. But their ceremony and reception were strikingly similar to what I’m envisioning in my head and it made me realize exactly how much I still have to do to pull it off and how little time I have left. I came home and had a mini panic attack. I mean I have all the major details worked out. The venues and vendors are set. The flowers are picked. The general “flow” of the ceremony and reception are laid out.

But then there’s all these details:

What color table cloths do I want? It comes with ivory, but I could add a sheer overlay in another color, or I could use the ivory tablecloth and get colored napkins. The centerpieces are white so I can’t do JUST ivory, but if we want something else we have to find a rental company.

What song will the bridal party walk into at the ceremony? For that matter, who is walking in when and with whom?

What exactly will our 15 minute ceremony consist of? 15 minutes is a really short amount of time, but when you are starting with ZERO ideas it’s a long fucking time to fill.

As always, I calmed myself down by making a list. A nice little to-do list that I can check things off of. It’s so much better when you can see all the things you have to do in one clearly organized place.

But then life happens and gets in the way of serenity. The day after I made my list I learned my rent is going up 12%. Yep I’m gonna have to move. Oh and the best part? The last day of my lease is the day after my cousin’s (out of town) wedding, which is the weekend after I’m hosting my in-laws for my bridal shower. FML.

I heard back from The Good School. The one I was really hoping to go to. Oh but it turns out they didn’t like me so I can’t go there. So the only option is The Far Away/Expensive School. I’m contemplating doing it, but just don’t know. I mean the amount of money it’s going to cost coupled with the fact I’m not sure I’ll be able to find work when I graduate just makes going back to school seem not so desirable right now. Let’s be honest. I already have 2 useless degrees. Do I really want/need a third one?

Barring some monumental scholarship from these people I think I’m gonna at least defer for a year. Hopefully they allow that? I also plan to meet with the folks at The Good School and find out what in the world they were looking for in a candidate. I really thought I was qualified. Oh well. Maybe I’ll reapply at some point in the future.

On a related note, if I don’t go back to school I need to find another part-time job. Preferably in my field, preferably paid (Yep, that’s how useless my degrees are!). Anyone wanna hire me?

Well I interviewed at the Expensive School and was accepted on the spot.

I would start in a few months.

So now I’m in a bind. I will get some tuition help from my job, but I’m also going to have to cut my hours. Sooooooo this leaves me with a bit of tuition and at least half a year of lost wages. I don’t have tons extra cash right now, but even if I did, I’m starting to question the value of this investment. Seriously, the prospects of me finding a job after I graduate are pretty bleak. Things may shape up as the state budget improves, or as the economy in general improves. But that’s not guaranteed, and I don’t want to graduate a year from now only to find out that I’ve wasted multiple thousands of dollars.

I think maybe I should just get a full time job, stop going to school, and start saving money. I mean, I have goals in life, like having kids and buying a house one day. I certainly can’t do that the way things are going right now!

Am I too old to go back to school? I don’t want to be 40 before I start having kids.

Hi, my name is Caro, and I’m having a quarter- to mid-life crisis.

Case in point: I’m applying to go back to school. Again. Let’s see – I did my 4 years of college. Took some time off. Got bored and started taking classes at the local community college. Then I decided to change careers and went back for a master’s degree. I’ve been out of school less than 2 years, and here I am, applying to back to school. Again.

Why? Cuz I’m a masochist. Seriously.

My first degree was useless. No joke – don’t get an undergrad degree in Psychology. There is not one damn thing you can do it. I then got a master’s in something a little more useful. And now to get the job I want I need a little more training. So I’m going back to school.

So on to my conundrum.

One of the schools I’m applying to requires 3 letters of recommendation. I have 2 solid letters from recent supervisors. However, I’m at a loss for my third letter writer. Here are the choices:

A) My current supervisor in my field. However, I’ve only known her a little over a month.
B) My current supervisor not in my field. I’ve known him almost 4 years and he’ll write a great letter, but it’s not quite related to what I want to do
C) A former teacher who knew me pretty well, but with whom I’ve had no contact for a year and a half
D) A former supervisor who knew me relatively well, but with whom I’ve had no contact for 2 years

Help me choose!! I need to get accepted to this program!

What have I been doing all this time? That’s a good question, cuz time has certainly flown by. Here’s the synopsis:

*I went to Italy. I’ll blog more about that later tonight, but I will tell you it was PHENOMENAL. We spent 6 days in Rome and did just about everything, including catching pink eye. Yep, medical issues follow me everywhere I go! We headed north for 4 days to Florence. Gorgeous city, and a lot cooler and less humid. It’s nice sightseeing in weather under 105 degrees. We also did a side trip to Pisa/Lucca and another to Cinque Terre on my birthday. BEST. BIRTHDAY. EVER. Finally, we headed down to Naples for 2 days. Naples is a dump, that’s for sure, but Pompeii was so worth it. Sorrento was glorious. More details on all of this to come!

*I quit 2 of my jobs. Hallelujah!! I increased my hours at the other one so I can still afford to pay my bills, and I took a different unpaid internship job. I’m now working in a school and am finally realizing my calling in life. Good thing it only took me 20-some-odd years to find it! It was a crazy month of transitioning, and at one point I was working 4 jobs for a week, but I made it through, sanity in tact. Whew!

*I’ve been planning my wedding. Duh!! For those of you who don’t know me well, I’m organized and plan ahead to the point that it’s pathological. Taking the idea from my friend (and bridesmaid!) Jess, I have started a wedding binder. My colors are eggplant, turquoise and silver, so the binder and its pages are those colors. I’ve been clipping things I like from magazines and putting them in their appropriate category. It’s fun – like scrapbooking! The binder is almost full though, fortunately with contracts! Yes, I am ahead of the game and have tons of vendors already selected, deposits paid.

*Last but not least I’ve been helping my extended family clean out my great aunt and uncle’s house and prepare it for sale. It’s kind of sad, but there’s so many of us doing it and we’re bonding over it. We found so many old pictures of relatives that lived and died before our time – it’s really neat! We also found a lot of … um… educational materials. Materials including, but not limited to, 30 years worth of Playboy magazine. The house is almost ready to go on the market.

1. Work: Same shit, different day. I’m still working 3 jobs. I still hate working 3 jobs. A major source of my blog neglect lately has come from one job in particular, wiping me out so I have NO energy to blog when I get home. I mean 4 grants + coordinating a scientific conference? I’m one person, and I work there 20 hours a week. Whew!

2. Marla: She hurts. I saw a neurologist and got an EMG and NCV on Friday. SO STRANGE. They put things on my foot then shocked me with a cattle-prod-thing. Get the results on Wednesday.

3. Italy: Um….I have done NOTHING Italy-related in a month. I’m starting to feel bad. But I have other things on my mind…..

4. Love Life: Well, I’m 7 years into my current relationship. We live together. AND WE’RE GETTING MARRIED!!!!!

J took me on a weekend adventure, and wouldn’t tell me anything. I had a feeling, but then again, I’ve been waiting for a while for this and thought maybe I’d have to keep waiting (boys are kinda dense). But then he took me to Sea World, where we did a behind the scenes penguin encounter. Apparently everyone else on the tour knew but me. I have tons of pics and a video of me/us petting penguins. Then we went into the back of the exhibit, and magic happened

Basically you can go right up to the barrier that separates the staff and the penguins, but you can’t go onto the snow (oh yeah, it’s about 20 degrees in here!). J and I walked up to this barrier, and as luck would have it, a penguin was intrigued and waddled right over to us. The little guy came all the way to the barrier and stuck his beak through it. SO AWESOME. I think I squealed in delight, and then said (to the penguin) “I love you!”. J thought I was talking to him, so he said, “I love you too, (pulled out a ring) will you marry me?”

And so we’re engaged. And we’re 100% ecstatic about it. I feel lucky to have found the love of my life, who is also my best friend, and to know I will spend the rest of my life with him. I mean, he proposed with penguins. This is clearly the guy for me! And that brings me to #5…

5. Wedding Planning: I’ve been engaged for 9 days, and I think I have a venue set. We’ve come up with our first two choices for dates (2011) and are waiting to hear back from the event coordinator. I went out to dinner with some of my friends 2 days after the proposal and they had made a bet as to how many spreadsheets I had already created (2). A week later, I have 5 total. Although the big day is over a year away, I’m not wasting a minute. Planning a wedding is kind of fun (remind me I said that if I start getting stressed 10 months from now). J is totally wonderful too. He is totally interested in this, at least so far, and while I’m the lead on the wedding planning, he’s taking the reins on the honeymoon.

So yeah. I’ve been a busy bee. I really don’t want my blog to turn into a wedding planning frenzy, so I’ll do my best to keep variety. I’ll also do my best to keep up, rather than go for weeks with no posts. And on that note, I’m going to bed. Good night world!

The post was both refreshing and kind of saddening. I took the Schwab Financial Fitness Test, and like Michele, my score is definitely lower than I would have though or hoped it would be. I scored a 68.

It was definitely awesome to see all the things I’m doing correctly: have health insurance, contribute at least 12% of my income to my retirement account, etc. But seeing the things I don’t do well made me sad. Do I have enough money to cover me if I become unemployed for several months? Nope. I haven’t quite rebounded from my “I finished grad school but still can’t find a job and have to start paying back loans” blow to my savings account. I mean can I get partial credit for knowing that I should have something like that?? lol

But seriously, it’s never too early or too late to get started on managing your finances. These are some easy tips I can recommend:

• Make a budget and stick to it. I was introduced to mint.com a while back and I LOVE it. It tracks your spending for you, reminds you of upcoming bill payments, and makes charts and graphs of your spending trends. And it lets you know instantly if you’ve overspent in any of your budget categories.
• A book I really enjoy is Get a Financial Life by Beth Kobliner. My first boss gave me this as a graduation gift when I finished undergrad. It was truly eye-opening, especially since I was literally scraping by on the salary I was making at that job.
• Contribute to your retirement account starting the day you get your first job. Even if you can only afford $100 a month, the amount that you’ll make off that is better than nothing!! And if your employer matches contributions, take full advantage of that. Seriously – it’s FREE MONEY. And it has your name on it. Take it!
• Don’t carry a balance on your credit card. NEVER. You’re giving away money, and right now interest rates on those things are abysmal.

And that’s all. Thanks Michele for the awesome financial quiz!

I had the distinct pleasure of watching the Mexico-France game LIVE online courtesy of espn.com. I didn’t think my computer could handle it, but I decided to give it a shot. While it wasn’t 52″ HD quality, it worked.

And Mexico WON!!

I’m really pretty happy about this. And France lost, which is an added bonus! It was also the first 2010 game I’ve been able to watch that involved a penalty kick. As a former goalie, these are particularly fascinating. Guessing which way to dive was NEVER a strong point of mine, and I love seeing how many times keepers are actually able to do it correctly.

Anyway, it was a lively game and a good one to watch, if you’re still interested. Either way, I highly recommend watching games live online. There’s an option to have it subtitled too!

Happy world cup-ing!