Kiss and makeup

Those of you who know me well know that I am far from a "girly girl." Growing up, I didn't wear much makeup, if any, and was way happier in sweats and a tshirt than just about anything else. In high school, I wore my hair in a ponytail nearly everyday.

Then, when I finished grad school, my mom gave me the gift that keeps on giving, and quite possibly the best gift I've ever received - a gift certificate to The Difference. The Difference is like TLC's "What Not To Wear," but where WNTW is a one night stand, The Difference is a lasting, committed relationship. In fact, we've been together just over 5 years now! Not only do they help you figure out what colors, shapes and styles work best for your personality, body type and comfort zone, they will help with arranging outfits within the clothes you already own, do makeup, help with hair style choice and will even help pick out glasses if you want! They sell clothing, jewelry, handbags, all kinds of wonderful and unique things in their shop.

But enough about my love affair with The Difference. This post is supposed to be how I went from being un-girly to being more girly.

When I went to The Difference and got the clothing thing sorted out, that helped change me. I became much more interested in fashion because I had a better sense of what worked for me and why. The scope of my shopping eye narrowed a lot and shopping wasn't nearly so overwhelming as it once was. But even though I got the fashion thing somewhat under control, I still didn't do makeup.

It wasn't that I couldn't do the makeup or didn't feel comfortable with it. There were two major reasons I hated to wear makeup - one, I felt like it exaggerated the problems with my horrible skin and two, (and if I'm honest, this is the main reason), I was lazy.

Two things have happened recently to change my outlook. First, I started seeing an aesthetician who rocks my world and has gotten my crazy awful skin under control. It is no longer red, dry and flaky all the time, which is amazing.

But the second reason, the bigger reason, is much simpler than all that. I wore makeup out one day recently and got a million comments on how nice I looked. I couldn't figure it out at first - I was wearing the same ol' jeans and cotton tee that I wear on a regular basis. Why was this scrubby look suddenly garnering compliments? And then I realized - the makeup.

I've worn makeup everyday since then, and everyday I've gotten comments on how nice I look. Again, the clothing I'm wearing is nothing out of the ordinary, it's the same stuff I've been wearing for ages. It has to be the make up.

The compliments feel good, and when one feels good about oneself one does better in everything - interviews, weight loss endeavors, making friends, everything. So I guess I'll keep wearing the makeup. It's so funny how a ten minute process can attract so much attention and make me look and feel so much happier.

Meal Plan, 6/13-20

Yes, there's an extra day in my week this week!

Sat - Grilled shrimp, sweet onion and asparagus on the bbq with pears on the side
Sun - Birthday party
Mon - Chipotle ravioli with caesar salad
Tues - Shrimp jambalaya
Wed - BBQ chicken, baked corn, cole slaw
Thurs - Tetrazinni
Fri - BBQ turkey burgers, fruit
Sat - Hawaiian chicken with jasmine rice

More devestation, and choosing to look on the bright side

I'm going to cut right to the chase here - we lost 3 more from my building today. Our entire music department was cut. As far as I know, all 3 positions will still be held at the school (choir, band and orchestra) but not by my former coworkers. They have been let go because some of the people cut from the elementary music positions had more seniority. As the four of us are the only ones in our little part of the building, you can imagine the feeling at work today.

The bright side - I am done. For the next 3 months I will continue to get paychecks and will be sitting around on my butt. Ok, so that's not completely true, but I don't have to get up and go to work every morning (until July when the Chinese students come). I got everything packed up, brought home, and unloaded into the garage today. It is a nice feeling to know that tomorrow I can sleep in, take pup to the park, pretty much do whatever I feel like all the day long. I have flowers to plant, things to organize, rooms to paint...I have high hopes (as I do every year) that it will be a productive summer (it's usually not, but one can dream, right?).

The time has come

I have been holding off on sharing this news for a while, but the time has come, I think, for me to put it out there.

I have lost my job.

I knew it was likely. I was 99% sure it was going to happen. I was not at all surprised when the letter came. But it still sucks.

150 people were laid off from my district, 13 in my building alone. They will be running bare bones next year - no drama, no art, only half time choir and slightly more than half time foreign languages. Computers and band appear to remain unaffected, and we don't know about orchestra yet since our orchestra teacher just took a position in another district.

It is not looking good. I applied for a position outside of public ed. I recently found out there were 90 applicants and I made it to the top 10. I had two phone interviews but did not make it to the next round, the top 3. Currently there are 2 teaching positions in the state for which I am qualified. Yes, you read that right. Two. Both requiring that I move and Ricky stay here and we live apart.

At this point, we figure if I can't find a job I will sub and draw unemployment. I found out I can draw unemployment anytime I can't get sub jobs, so that will be great for Christmas and Spring vacations. It also means we'll be able to relax a little bit on those weeks when the jobs are few and far between.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried. I go through moments of hopelessness, and then come back to seeing the bright side of it all (no more dealing with parents, no more grading, no lesson planning, I can take days off when I feel like it). Ideally, of course, I'd find another job - not just because of the salary, but because I love what I do and after having my own classroom with my own kids, it's going to be so hard to go back to seeing different kids every day and not having the relationship with them. Right now, though, in an effort to not fall into total despair I'm choosing to focus on the positive and enjoy my summer!