Tuesday, October 28, 2003
Crazy Girl

I have officially gone crazy. After reading some blogs (Kerrie's and Carolyn's) I decided to participate in the 5th Annual Novel in a Month Event. I have just committed to writing 50,000 words in a month. I know I can do this and since I am currently unemployed, this is the time to do it.

I've been scattered this past week and I am working today to get back on track. I can no longer allow people to suck up my time because I am not working. Lunches, picking up items for them and other such nonsense must stop now. It's hard to be a hard-ass but it needs to be done for my sake. I need to focus on finding a job.

So that aside, I am to tell you about MaBella from the Bon-Macy's. Last Thursday I rushed to the mall to shop for the perfect interview outfit. After trying on a few suits and searching around. I settled on two suits. I then started looking for shirts to go under neath. I wasn't sure about one of the suits but since I was shopping alone, I figured I would buy them, show them to my Mom and return the one she didn't like. Well after encountering MaBella, I didnt' need any help from my Mom. MaBella is from Columbia and is the best salesperson I have ever met! She helped me select one suit and some shirts to go underneath. We discussed several options and then she told me how she thought I should wear my hair and what kind of jewerly to get. I was set. When I marched in for my interview, I knew I looked good and that is one step in the process to getting hired.

Today I am v. tired since my friend Liz stayed the night. I think I only got 6 hours of sleep. Tonight will be an early to bed night. Hopefully I'll be able to fit in some good knitting time too.

Till later,

Rebecca

Saturday, October 25, 2003
Good Times

The interview went wonderfully! I had a great time and I feel pretty good about it.

In knitting news, (because hey this is a knitting blog!) I finished Ariana's Cabled Hat and started on the second hat for Liz. I need to finish that one tomorrow since she comes into town tomorrow! Better get cracking!

Remind me to tell you about MaBella from Bon-Macy's next time I'm here. I need to get to my parent's house for Ariana's birthday!

Ran 13 miles today. It was really hard and I walked the last mile with some walkers for my running group. I'm going to be ok with that because next time I do 13, I won't walk the last mile!
Thursday, October 23, 2003
On a Roll!

Yesterday was a very frustrating day for me. First of all I overslept. Ok so I don't have anywhere I have to be BUT I do try to get up by 8 a.m. to start job hunting. I awoke at 9:30 a.m. I decided to get over it and tried to log on to the internet. After logging in and getting bumped after a few minutes, I thought I'd best head over to my parent's house to use their connection. I COULDN'T GET ON! I then went to a spinning class (might as well get some fitness in if I can't get some job searching done). Well it was HARD! I thought I was going to die but I didn't! I can't wait to go back. My butt needs this workout!

Then last night I heard the sad news that Elliott Smith had committed suicide. Such a loss!

Today I received good news! I have a real live interview tomorrow. Of course this means I need a suit so I'm going shopping in a bit. I did steal one from my Mom's house but it's a skirt suit and I prefer pants. I might combine the jacket with some new pants though. Oh shopping here I come!

Happy Knitting!
Tuesday, October 21, 2003
Re-Do

I spent most of today and yesterday re-doing my resume with all the great suggestions I've received from collegues and friends. Whew! It's a hard process and I'm feeling a bit frayed.

Luckily I have my knitting to keep me on track. I am super happy that I ripped out A's birthday hat. I re-cast on with larger needles and carefully counted out stitches. This time around, we are back on track and I'm about an inch from finishing. I purchased some more fun fur to knit 3 scarves for my friends in England. I only have 4 weeks until I go on my trip and I know that time will fly so I'd best get started soon. I just need to finish A's hat and do one more quick hat for Liz's children before starting the hats. Since both of the above projects have deadlines of Friday, I'm sure I'll be working on the scarves by this weekend.

Did hills tonight at ChuckIt. It was hard but good. Couldn't run yesterday due to the over 5 inches we received in rain yesterday. It was crazy! I ended up going to the gym but I just can't run on the treadmill. It just bugs me too much so I did my weights and pedaled on the bike for about 40 minutes. Tomorrow I'm taking a spinning class since those are more fun than just randomly cycling. It will help keep up my bike skills and get me to the gym to do my weights!

Happy Knitting!
Friday, October 17, 2003
Lucky Girl

Stella mentioned that I was having good luck! And I think I am! Today has already been fantastic! I had my initial phone interview with the agency and I feel very strong about my chances for success.

Right after I got off the phone I checked my e-mail and recieved one about FREE flights on Ryan airlines. Well I'm going to England in November. I didn't think I could use the offer but I noticed I could fly from Manchester to Dublin for one day. So I booked it. I'm staying overnight so that I have more time but all I had to pay was 33.23 pounds for taxes, etc. Now where else can you fly so cheap! I debated staying in a hostel but would feel nervous staying alone in a dorm room. I looked into a private room and it would have been $120. So I booked a hotel for $60. It looks nice and the doors have locks for when I'm a freak :)

A's cable knit hat has been ripppppinnnnng! I noticed that I made some major errors. One being gauge! So I ripped it out and will re-do it this weekend. I'd rather give her a great present than one I'm not enamored with. I'm planning on getting more fun fur today so I can make some Christmas presents. I'm going to make some for my friends in England. I'll need to get those done by November.

Went for a 5 mile run yesterday with some friends and took another friend's dog, Zubin with me. It was a wild and windy run. Poor Zubin was so tired he didn't even try to pace in my car and just flopped on the couch when I got him back home. He's a funny dog with a great owner (she sent me the Ryan Air information).

Tonight a quick 3 mile run before meeting with job-searching friends. We are going to review some interview tips so that when we get our interviews we do fantastic!

Rebecca
Wednesday, October 15, 2003
All Better Now

I am cruising along on the knitting front! I finished M's Fun Fur Christmas Scarf made out of Lion's Brand Fun Fur. While not the best yarn ever, it did turn out a very nice and fuzzy scarf for M. I'm thinking of making a few more for some friends in England. Christmas is coming and I'd best get knitting.

I do need to figure out what I am making my Dad and my brother for Christmas. They might be getting scarves but I'm not sure what kind, etc.

I'm almost finished with A's cable knit hat. It's a design that I must pay attention to so I decided to put it aside last night so that I didn't make any mistakes. I hope to finish it this afternoon.

My car is now officially all fixed and I can leave those worries behind me for now. The clutch shop gave me the $65 for the engine diagnostics so I'm very happy with them now.

On the job hunting front, I just got a call to do a phone interview with a National PR agency. I'm doing it on Friday at 10 a.m. PST so wish me luck! I'm nervous but happy that something is happening. Another agency requested that I send them writing samples. Another good sign.

Well must be off to battle the intense rain, job search and KNIT! Yea!

Ta'ra


Tuesday, October 14, 2003
I love RUNNING

While it appears I haven't posted in a few days, I did post on Friday but it appears my post was eaten by the computer. Bah! So to catch everyone up, I've been very busy job hunting, knitting and running.

In the knitting arena, I've finished Melissa's baby sweater, almost finished M's Christmas scarf, am about half-way done with the multi-directional scarf and have nearly finished A's birthday hat. I love M's Christmas scarf so much! It's made out of fun fur yarn and has a slit in the middle of it. I think I'll be getting some more of the yarn and making more of these! They only take a few hours and are great TV knitting.

On the running front, I skipped my 12 mile run on Saturday. I think I was nervous about having Chuck (monica, he's my running coach) waiting for me. Instead I went on Sunday and made arrangements for a friend to meet me 3 miles before the end. I knew that I would be struggling at that point and would be tempted to walk. Since she was fresh, she kept me going and only allowed me to walk once up a big hill. I think my moaning and groaning about the hill wore her down. After my run, we went to a local park so she could kick around a soccer ball. She's planning on trying out for a team this next weekend and wanted to make sure that her foot could handle it. She has a screw in her foot and sometimes it aches. I had fun kicking the ball in the wrong direction so that she had to chase it down. I'm so mean!

This weekend my Dad installed new front brakes in my car and hunted down the leak. I also took my car to the mechanic to fix the "Service Engine Light" We discovered that the clutch people didn't attach a wire correctly causing the light to go off. The leak is also from the clutch people not putting a gasket on right. So today, I'm going back to the clutch people to have the gasket fixed and to ask them to pay for the service engine repair. We shall see. If they won't give me $$$, I'm going to ask for rear brake parts since I need that fixed soon too.

OK Off to knit and fight crime! Oh and I get to run hills today. My favorite!
Wednesday, October 08, 2003
Finisher!

I'm tearing through the knitting projects! It feels so good to be accomplishing so much. I finished Diana's scarf last night and am blocking it right now. I'm not sure that one has to block scarves but I wanted to! I started A's birthday hat and about an inch into it. I only worked on it for about 15 minutes before falling asleep last night.

I also completed my Mom's scarf (from August!) and gave it to her on Monday. She loves it! Yea for her!

Lunch plans were cancelled yesterday as my friend's Mom was in the hospital. I hope she's doing better today! I did visit Great Harvest Bread company for a free slice of bread. So good!

Today is a dreary rainy Seattle day but I'm loving it! I went to ChuckIt last night for a 2 mile time trial of which I only did 1 mile. I bruised one of my toes a few weeks ago and it tends to ache if I run too fast. I am just hoping and praying it doesn't fall off because that is GROSS! I have my 12 mile run scheduled for Saturday and I'm already getting a bit stressed about it. I know I can do it. The part that stresses me out is that Chuck waits for you to finish and he is going to be waiting forever for me. Blah! I'll just have to ignore that and remember it is his choice to wait for me because he doesn't have to and I can take as long as I want to run 12 miles. That is a long way to go!

Tonight I double booked myself! I scheduled a run with a friend and climbing with another. I just wrote them and hopefully we can get it all worked out. I'm such a doofus! I need to remember to check my calendar and that just because I'm not working does not mean I am free all day, every day. I still have a life to lead!

Whew! Now that is a long post! Best be off to do more job hunting and searching!

Ta'ra

Rebecca

Tuesday, October 07, 2003
The Huntress

I started job hunting for real yesterday and I think it's going well. I've applied for about 8 positions and have contacted a few recruiters. I'll also be networking with PRSA as much as possible. I'll be a networking fool!

I've been enjoying the new time I have for knitting. I started a scarf for a friend's birthday on Sunday afternoon and am almost finished. Before anyone thinks I'm up to Wendy's knitting speed, let me interject. It's just a cast on 30 garter stitch scarf. I'm using some Lion's Homespun Brand yarn in a nice varigated blue, green and purple color. I think she'll enjoy this present. I'm going back to the store to see if they have another skein of this so I can make her mittens and a hat for Christmas. Luckily for me, she won't notice that this isn't the most expensive yarn and will just love the texture. Whew!

Well I must run, I have lunch plans with a former co-worker. We are going to tour her housemate's bakery and maybe get some yummy bread to eat! I'll detail some upcoming projects tomorrow.

Stella! Good luck with the boy!
Friday, October 03, 2003
Happy Happy

It's a strange world being unemployed but I am so happy to be gone from my former place of employment. I actually woke up on Thursday morning with a huge grin on my face. Now, that says something!

I decided to chill for a few days and will start the job hunt on Monday. Until then, I'm knitting, hanging out and enjoying myself. I started the multi-directional scarf and am into my second repeat on the short rows. I think Krista will really enjoy it!

OK I'm off to pick up my computer from my brother. He's spruced it up for me! Yea! I can finally stop using friend's and family's computers on the sly.

Ta'ra

Happy Day!
Wednesday, October 01, 2003
Laid Off

What a Wednesday it was! I was laid off from my company today. Supposedly my position has been eliminated. I'm very frightened about being out of work but I do hope this will be a great opportunity to find a position I love. For the past two years, my desire for working at this last company has diminished and I was beginning to despise my job.

Off to have a pity party for myself!
 
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