Tuesday, February 24, 2009

OCD Planning

I am obsessive compulsive when it comes to planning, especially vacations. I will spend months researching an area that we will only visit for days or a week at a time. My current obsession is Chicago and Toronto - I have had the opportunity to fall in love with the idea of Chicago from my husbands frequent business trips as well as one of my favorite blogs. Toronto though is a great mystery that I am currently exploring. So much to see and do - I think I am most excited at the idea of getting my passport. I can smell the pages, see my picture, imagine what it will feel like to get my first stamp. See - obsessed.

Okay, update to come tomorrow. It will be a busy day filled with hope and promise as I begin my career in health care. For tonight, I going to tuck into a gorgeous chicken I roasted with lemon, EVOO, rosemary, cracked pepper, onion, and lots of veggies. There is nothing more comforting than a roasted chicken still warm from the oven.

Friday, February 20, 2009

Love on a Thursday

In my world, yesterday was a slow, quiet day. Well, if you can call quiet being roused at 6:45 am by the kids and trying to burrow under the covers and pretend to sleep in. Needless to say, I pried myself out of bed to tend to breakfast and the mayhem that is my morning before they head off to school. The remainder of the morning was spent catching up on emails, procrastinating on homework, and trying to decide what to make for dinner. After much deliberation, I put on a big pot of chicken tortilla soup and enjoyed the tempting smells wafting from my kitchen.

Settling in at my computer I continued my search for places to stay in Chicago. This summer we are taking a family vacation that will cover Indiana, Michigan, Canada, Niagara Falls, and Illinois over a two week time period. We have over the past ten years with great success, stayed at various vacation rentals that I found online. Having already secured a rental in
Toronto a few weeks ago, Chicago was next on the list. After many emails and hours of scouring the internet over the past few weeks - I finally found a rental in Roscoe Village . The area is lovely with wide tree lined streets in a family friendly neighborhood, within a few blocks of an area filled with shops and restaurants - a mile from Wrigley Field. Just the type of place we enjoy staying. There is something to be said about a vacation that allows you to ensconce yourself for a brief time in residential life of a place you will never live.

After baths and bedtime, I settled into bed with my husband, Craig. We have this nightly routine where we relax and talk about our day, discuss what lies ahead for the week, and in this case looked forward to our summer vacation. Last night, the conversation turned to us. I am deeply in love with my husband after 13 years of marriage - he is my best friend, he teases me mercilessly, is my sparring partner during many spirited discussions, he makes me laugh, and he is the best father I know. I feel incredibly lucky to have him in my life. We have been together since I was 20, married at 21, almost split up when I was 31. I won't go into details here - all I can say is that he is a loving, forgiving man who has never ever lost sight of our family or our love. When I doubted everything in my life, including myself - he held my hand and kicked me not so politely in the rear to help me find my way. Last night, I told him how amazed I am at how strong our love has grown - especially considering all we have been through with our kids and our marriage. It is the most amazing feeling to fall in love all over again with the same person - I have to say it means even more the second time around. I can not wait to grow old with this man - to see where the rest of our lives together take us. So far it has been pretty damn incredible, never a dull moment. I can't wait to share what happens next.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Quick Week In Review

Last Week went something like this:

Monday: Boy to school, girls to mom's, work 9-6, after that rehearsal until 8

Tuesday: Boy to school, work 9-1, girls to school, pick everyone back up - night off

Wednesday: Boy to school, errands, girls to school, job interview, pick everyone back up, Final dress/tech rehearsal 5-8

Thursday: More of the same shuttling kids, plus opening night of play, exhausted from sleepless night spent stressing about what I perceived to be crappy job interview, job offer, opening night of kids play

Friday: Shuttling kids, physical therapy, second night of kids play

Saturday: Girls dance class, errands, date with Craig - play at
Stray Cat and dinner at Caffe Boa

Sunday: Sick, mainly exhausted, kids matinee

Looking forward to a slower paced week, starting a new class, and closing weekend of the kids play.

Everything Falls Into Place

Last week amongst the chaos of opening a show, my life abruptly went off in a new direction. I try to live my life as open minded as possible, taking new opportunities as they arise, walking through doors, and sometimes windows that seem to open for me. While recovering from the car accident happened in early December, I spent 6 weeks at home. During those six weeks, I had reassessed many parts of my life including my present job. Part of the time, I applied online for jobs at hospitals that I was shall we say less than qualified for. To be quite honest, I never expected to hear back from any of them.

Fast forward two months to me checking my messages at home - there I discover a week old message asking me to call for an interview. After explaining to the lady at HR, that no I am not an idiot and yes I don't often check my messages at home, I was scheduled a phone interview. So the Friday before last, I had my first ever phone interview. It went well and the recruiter asked me to come down for a second interview with the hiring manager. This past Wednesday, after an interview in person,where I talked way too much and expressed my ever present opinion on many topics, I was given a tour of the ER where the position was located. During a tearful phone call on the way home, I explained to Craig that I have never wanted a job this much. Deep down, I felt like I had blown it and was totally out of the running. The hiring manager had told me they would make a decision by the end of the week. Thursday afternoon, the recruiter was on the phone with a job offer. Hard to believe a week earlier, I contemplated not returning the phone call.

So many things have now fallen into place. This job will enable me to obtain an interview for the Fellows program I so desperately want to get into next fall. I will be working pool which means I have to work a minimum of 40hrs per month, which is quite doable even once I start clinicals. So, I now have the ability to go to school, bring in some income, utilize my background in finance, customer service, and medicine, and gain more experience while I finish my degree in nursing. Quite an unexpected and amazing development!

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

All Work and No Play...


While my goal is to post at least every other day, it has been 11 days since my last post. The reason for being MIA is simply this - the play I am directing is just finishing up what is known as "hell" week or tech/dress rehearsal week. Opening night is tomorrow and I could not be prouder of the 22 kids I have had the great pleasure to work with. Come out and see our show - Law and Order Fairy Tale Unit! Matlin Studio for the Arts - February 12, 13, 20, 21 at 7pm and February 15 at 2pm. Tickets and Info http://www.matlinstudio.com/. Reservations call 480-459-1968. More to come on the blog next week.