NEW JOB!!! AMEN!!!

So, I officially have a new job!!! Can I get an Amen? AMEN!!! It's been a long journey from unemployment to here...but I am so thankful to finally have a job. SO THANKFUL!! I'll be working as the Logistics Manager for an Event Production company. So fun!

Today was my 2nd day and I have to say, it's always awkward starting a new job. UGH, I hate being the new girl and feeling like I don't know anything. AWKWARD!! What makes it even more awkward is that they are super busy getting all these events off the ground...so everyone is running around crazy and I'm sitting there twiddling my thumbs. Mostly because no one has time to explain anything to me...but also because they have yet to give me a working computer or printer...you don't realize how vital those components are until you don't have them.

SO, in order to celebrate me new job...and the make me fill a bit cooler looking when I feel like a useless nerd....I got a sweet new work bag!! I luckily still had money left on a gift card plus I get an instructor discount....so it was a frugal splurge. This way I don't have to bring my laptop to work in a duffle bag. Isn't it cute? I'm in love!

Lululemon Bag
Mine's the black one

Diego on a Dime (megan's version)

So, being pretty much unemployed has made me tap into my inner budget-conscience diva. It's amazing how inventive you are forced to get when you are trying to live of off...well, nothing. So, that being said, I thought I would share some of my forced knowledge with the world.

1)THE PARKING GAME:
Even though I have my entire day free....I wait until 6pm to go running. All of my favorite running destinations have paid parking, but I have learned that if you go after 6pm...the meters are free. (daily savings: $1.00-$1.50)

2)PLAYING THE TIMESHARE CIRCUIT:
Izzy & I spent out Sunday sitting through a really boring 90-minute timeshare presentation...Lord knows I can't even afford one roof over my head, let alone a second...but we had our eye on the prize. The game plan: sit through and smile and in the end say "no thanks"....so we did, and we were handsomely rewarded with 2 Padres tickets and a 4 Day/3 Night Vacation to Napa, Tahoe, or San Francisco w/ airfare included. I'd say it was worth the 90 minutes. (savings: um, I dunno..a lot)

3) TAMING THE MANE:
I haven't had any sort of service done to my hair since March...the situation is bleak. I recently started realizing my roots were reminiscent of a trailer park occupant...so I got a box color to make me look less-homeless. But, I'm still left with the situation of a haircut....my ends sort of look like dry hay. So, I've been emailing salons to get on their "hair model" list...which pretty much means is a stylist needs to practice or take a class I can get a free haircut by sitting through their session. I'll let you know how it works out. (potential savings $150+)

4) FUEL SHORTAGE:
To make my fuel get me further I have learned to survive a really hot car. My two rules are (1) no A/C, it wastes gas AND (2) no windows open on the freeway, it creates drag and is less fuel efficient. But, in the end i figure...most people would pay to sit in a sauna, so not only am I saving money on gas...I'm also getting a spa treatment out of the deal to. (savings: limitless)

Hmmm...I'm sure I've got more. I'll keep them coming as I uncover some more insider scoops.

Distractions

Life has been hard lately. I moved out to San Diego with job prospects, however as a pilates instructor, building clientele at your job is something that takes time. So, now I am stuck in client-building limbo...and feeling the financial effects of barely working.

It's times like this that really make me depend on God...but also question my life and choices and discernment. I prayed about whether I should come out here a lot, and while I didn't feel and overwhelming sense of yes..I didn't hear no either. I love it here and am so excited about the place I am working. I love pilates and love teaching and helping clients. SO, I'm looking for other jobs to help support me in the meantime...however, it's hard to not ask God why? a lot.

BUT, for now as I am dwindling down to my last dime and putting in applications to anyone who will take them...I've found some distractions I thought I'd share.

(1) My new favorite website: www.diegoonadime.com is a super fun place to find ideas on how to explore San Diego cheaply. So Fun!

(2) Also, I've been running a lot more since it's free. I found my new favorite website www.mapmyrun.com to help find popular routes and map my own. Yesterday we ran the rim of Fiesta Island and it was so fun. It's this barren island of only beach and a dog park. There is something about the smell of ocean, sand, and campfire. AHH! BLISS!!

Let's try this again...again...

Much like in my younger years when it came to devoting myself to a journal or diary...so am I with this blog. I really like the idea of it...however the faithful execution of it all just falls the the wayside. But, as people do when they find themselves at a personal impasse, I will pick myself up and get back on the blogging wagon. Plus, now that I am an owner of a new Macbook...I feel more mature and geared up for the task at hand.

This whole new blogging start was spurred on by my deep dwelling desire to try my hand again at a journal...I used to be so faithful to them, but, much like this blog, in recent history I have fallen astray. I've had a lot of change going on in my life lately. But, I figured since most times some sort of profound revelation or, in the very least, humorous anecdotes comes out of processing through your life....why not share mine? Plus, as you will learn as I dive into the depths of my current circumstance, I am in what I call "a non-elective financial-fast" (I'm poor) and blogging was the more frugal option; Investing in a journal that may only see and entry or two did not seem like a good investment. So here is goes....

An update of my life since 2008:

1) I finished my Pilates Certification (insert confetti)
2) I met a boy: Israel Alejandro Woolfolk (aka Izzy). This picture pretty much sums up our relationship ;-)

3) I moved to San Diego!

4) And I'm currently working at this kick-ass gym...but without clients yet I am desperately seeking more work:


...Which pretty much brings you up to speed on things. At least the upside of my barely there employment is that I'll have time to blog...hopefully!

Milwaukee Art Museum: After Dark Party

So, in my quest to find something cool about Milwaukee. My sister and I have been trying to make a consience effort to enjoy the city in which we were born. My sis heard from a friend about this after hours event at the Milwaukee Art Museum...which is an archetectual jewel in Milwaukee. It was a fun night mixing some really cool exhibits with some really random "abstract" dance productions by UWM students. But, overall it was defiently worth a night out.

My favorite part however was the photo booth they had set up. The best pics will be features in next years catalog for the event. Here was our attempt at being the best:




And one of our own:

R.I.P. Old Friend!

This weekend I had to say good bye to a good friend. We've spent every day together for the last two years, but on Friday...he died. My beloved Blackberry (or more appropriate, Crackberry) decided to give up on life after a long life. It was a sad day...but I secretly have to admit I have been eyeing the newer model for quite some time now. The silver lining in this grey cloud was that the day it died was the first day I was eligible for a full discount on a new phone. THANK YOU LORD!! I am now the proud owner of a hot red blackberry curve. Yeah!

As a final tribute to my old friend, a picture:

Tattoo!

I've always lived my middle name, JOY! I think it is a quality too often lacking in the world. There are so many things that can bring people down; I love that having Joy as a part of my name is a constant reminder to apply it to my life. For the longest time I have always said I would NEVER get a tattoo...I'm usually too indecisive. But, as usual my declerations, always have a way of overturning themselves. After going through some hard stuff in college, I had a new appreciation for the word JOY. So I started thinking about getting the word Joy in hebrew tattoed on me as a constant visual reminder. From there, everything fell into place. My sisters came to me about wanting tattoos and even got my mom on board, which of course made me jump on board. Then when I started my Pilates training my instructor was this awesome chick from Isreal. So of course I asked her to help me find just the right word.

In the end, my sisters and my mom hadn't decided what they wanted before my older sis was heading off to live in Southeast Asia for the next two years. So, I decided I didn't want to wait, but I brought them along to watch...and take pictures of course. Plus, this way they are even more inspired to get theirs in 2010!

The word I chose is actually used as a name in Isreal. It says Giliyah...which means "My Joy is in God" or "Joy of the LORD"
It comes from GILI, meaning Joy
and YHWH (Yahweh), meaning LORD (God)

GOING INSIDE!


Ascending to my fate! We just thought it was a cool staircase!


Last look at my naked foot...


Almost done...and it totally didn't hurt...which was wierd!


Dan, my new BFF...


The finished product..but it looks so much better when it's not red!

I'm Cold!

So for the last 8 years I have lived in Southern California where the weather is fabulous and a balmy 90 degrees this time of year. But today I got a dose of reality since being back in WI since June. October is cold! Today it started snowing...and then hailing...and then snowing again. It makes me wonder...why do people choose to live here? IF it weren't for the closeness of family and the free rent...Lord, knows I'd be on a beach right now!

Here is my new winter coat. The 3/4 length sleeve numbers I was rocking in SoCal weren't cutting it anymore!

Let's try this again...

Okay, so after a year of not blogging...I'm saying "let's try this again" I would like to insert some sort of lofty promise or measurable goal that I will blog often...but for know I'm just saying "I'll try"

So, to catch you up...these are the happs of the the last 12 months:

Dec 2007: Trip to Indonesia/Singapore to visit Katy, Brad, et al. (Awesome!)
April 2008: Event planning freelance-job to Puerto Vallarta with my friend Debbie
May 2008: Quit sucky full-time job
June 2003: Move back to WI (Goodbye LA...for now)
June 2008: Katy, Brad, et al come back to the states for 5 months
June-July: Unemployed and loving it! Hanging out with the fam
July: Get waitressing job & hired at a Gym (so they can pay for my Pilates training)
September: Start my pilates certification train! YEAH!

Okay, so that pretty much sums it up in words, here are some pictures:

FAMILY PIC IN SINGAPORE

OUR HOME AWAY FROM HOME IN INDONESIA

GOOD RIDDENS SUCKY JOB!!!

GOOD BYE LOVELY FRIENDS!

>
GOOD BYE LA!!!

SUMMER LOVIN!!!

FALL, so far...

The Farmer and the Realtor...

I LOVE that when you google my family, this is what comes up. If you know my family, this is extra halarious! :

POLICE DEPARTMENT:

Discussion and action on nuisance complaint at 706 South Waterville Lake Road

Richard Schowalter, 34591 Four Seasons Road, stated they moved into the house in October 2006 and the first night they were in their new house they were woken at 3:30 am to a loud rooster. At times during the winter and it is extremely cold the roosters have been inactive. Basically over the past 5 months they have been woken between 3:30 and 4:30 am continually by this rooster. Mr. Schowalter brought the issue to the Town and they decided it was a police issue so Chief Race sent a letter to the Couillard’s that the rooster would have to be removed from the property. The Couillard’s protested the letter so the Chief’s hands were temporarily tied and now they are bringing this to back to the Town. There is a history of rooster annoyances so this is not new, but it is new to his family. It has put them in a very uncomfortable situation. There was never a complaint before from this house but Mr. Showalter thinks (he is not 100% sure) that the previous owners were Mrs. Couillard’s brother and mother.

Cindy Schowalter, 34591 Four Seasons Road, stated she grew up on a farm so has nothing against farm animals but she has a problem being woken up every morning at 3 am since she is a nurse and needs to be sharp and alert and this is affecting her disposition and job. If the rooster would be locked up in a sound proof room until 6 am she wouldn’t have a problem with that. She woke up at 4:18 am on Sunday and counted that the rooster crowed 30 times in 20 minutes. She doesn’t understand why the Town of Summit has this in the Code but it is being allowed to continue and they are not in an agricultural neighborhood.

Bill Dionne, 34599 Four Seasons Road, he is property owner directly north of Schowalter’s and he stated he is a construction worker so he gets up very early in the morning but on his days off this does bothers him, it is very repetitive and they cannot sleep with the windows open in the summer. He moved out to the country because he likes it. He is not looking for the Couillard’s to get rid of the roosters completely he is just here to support his neighbors and go in a direction to make everybody happy, maybe they could build some type of enclosure. Mr. Dionne doesn’t have a problem with any of the other animals and likes living in the country.

Mr. Schowalter stated this has been going on for five months and doesn’t know how you can contain a rooster in a room to keep it quiet and as long as the roosters are on that property he will always question if he will be woken up at 3:30 in the morning. The rules are on the books and he thinks we should abide by them. His goal is to get rid of those roosters so he can get a good night sleep. Mr. Schowalter stated he is a realtor and knows the laws of real estate and if he wanted to put his house up for sale, he would have to disclose this nuisance and his house would not sell. If he would have known that this nuisance was there he would not have bought the house.

Jeff Couillard, 706 S Waterville Lake Road, stated they have been raising animals for over ten years. H stated the roosters have always been there and they have had no previous complaints in those ten years until these neighbors moved in. Mr. Couillard lets the rooster out in the early morning while he is cleaning the pastures. In the summer he plans to round them up and keep them inside over night. The only time he has had any neighbors come and talk to him about it was because they liked them. His brother and mother in law did live in the house previously but the roosters were always around when the house was being sold.

Lindsay Couillard, 706 S Waterville Lake Road, stated they are grandfathered in with laws and that the laws have changed since they have been living there, they have always had animals at that location and this was discussed at a board meeting and determined that they are not violating any laws or rules as far as animals are concerned. A nuisance is dependent on the person there is not one thing that is clarified as a nuisance. She believes nuisance is a disturbance to the public as a whole, not just one person or one family.

Mr. Schowalter stated he was not aware of the rooster situation when he bought the property. At closing the realtor made a comment to Mrs. Schowalter something to the effect of “good luck with the rooster”. They did not understand at that time what he was referring to.

Supervisor Kraut stated this is probably one of the toughest things that she has had to deal with and the reason being is this still a small town in a rural area and generally neighbors can talk these problems through and solve the problem. She is beginning to think that the nuisance ordinance needs to be taken to the Town legal counsel for review.

Supervisor Arenz stated he agrees with Supervisor Kraut and we need to address this as a bigger issue as far as definition of our ordinance and existing conditions.

Supervisor Clifford asked Manager Elling if the Couillard’s are in complete compliance with the zoning on the property. Manager Elling stated that in January 2006 the Plan Commission determined that the harboring of animals including up to two roosters was allowed as a legal non-conforming use. Supervisor Clifford stated his position is that the rooster has been there for ten years and the Town has had only one complaint so they Couillard’s are not in violation.

Supervisor Arenz asked Chief Race to confirm that there has only been one complaint. Chief Race confirmed that this is the only complaint received.

Supervisor Riley asked Mr. Schowalter if he had contacted Mr. Couillard about this issue to try and solve the problem. Mr. Schowalter stated that he found out what the legal end of this was and chose to take that route.

Chairperson Susa stated they have been asked to go through mediation and the Couillard’s agreed but this has not been done yet. He has a concern with the community if the neighbors cannot go over to their neighbor and talk about this and highly recommends that this go to mediation.

Motion by Kraut, second by Riley to direct the Schowalter’s and Couillard’s to meet with the Waukesha County Mediation group.
Motion carried 5-0.

From Test to Testimony...

So, for those of you who don't know, I'm a published author...we'll sort of. I wrote an article for a magazine distributed by my church. They've now posted it on their website. The most amazing thing is that I wrote that poem thinking it could never come true...God's freedom is amazing! My Journey to the Edge

Relay For Life: A Sneek Peek

For those of those who don't know what I do, here is a peek into the life of an American Cancer Society Relay Manager:

Claremont Relay, May 19-20th, Gross Income: $143,000

Claremont Relay

Upland Relay, June 2-3,2007, Gross Income: $75,000

Upland Relay

Our Luminaria Ceremony. Tilt your head to the left because it's sideways and I can't figure out how to turn it the right way, but the bagpipes alone are amazing:

Celebrity Sighting

I was running at the Rose Bowl yesturday and was very excited to see Meredith Baxter, the mom from Family Ties, out walking her sheltie. LA never loses it's excitment.



EXCEPT, SHE LOOKS MORE LIKE THIS NOW:

Overtaken by an Immigration Protest

I had to work out of our LA office today. On my way home my car was taken over by a sea of immigration protesters. While choppers hovered above, I documented the events that unfolded. These are some of my favorite characters!

The Patriotic Cowboy:

Ole! The Sombrarro Man:

The Guy who monopolized on the opportunity to sell fruit: (I think people were more interested in the protest)


Here's a link to a video on all the students who skipped school to protest. Hmmm, do you think they really knew what they were protesting, or maybe they were just excited to have a reason to skip class.

My new FAVORITE link!

Watch TV and Movies on-line!

TV Links

Shhh, I think it's illegal!

Tag-Team Family Palooza 2007

I have just had the best past two weeks. First, my sister came for a week, then my mom flew in and we all had 24 hours together, than Linds left and it was me and mom for a week. LOVED IT!!

Some of the weeks activities:
Santa Monica
Santa Barbara
The Getty Center
Disneyland Hotel
Lunch at the Ivy
Tour of Hollywood
Burke Williams Spa
Manis and Pedis

Here are some pics (Check them out on Linds' Page too):

Santa Monica


Hiking up Echo Canyon


Santa Barbara


Back on the Beach Cafe


The Getty Center


Thai Food, YUM!

Uh....thanks?

I went out to get my mail today and there was a new sign posted above our mailboxes:


Uh...thanks? So, what am I supposed to do with this information? I think maybe this is just so that when they are pulling my lifeless body from the rubble they can say, "I told you so!"

Can I get an "Amen!"?

I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am that Congress finally heard my crys and is extending the Summer Daylight Savings time. This year we are starting three weeks early (3/11) and are going one week longer (into November)! They say this longer use of Summer hours will save energy and compensate for our use of air conditioning in the summer. Hey, what ever excuse they can come up with it fine. I'm just excited to be able to go running at 7pm without my pepper spray! AMEN!

God, He thinks He's funny...

Recently my car's check engine light kept coming on. I also was freaked out when my radio started to change stations on it's own. So, I decided to embrace my extended warranty and take it in to get fixed. After some batting of the eyes and persuasive speech, I talked my new boyfriend Ray into giving me a voucher for a free rental car while my car was in the shop. I was quite proud of myself and quite excited to drive a stylin' car for a day. I even jumped on the Enterprise website the night before to see what kind of cars they had. The next morning I dropped my car off and headed off to get my cool new, free, rental car. They were super nice at Enterprise and told me they needed to give me a Toyota product due to their agreement with the dealership. This was the last Toyota they had left:

Need I say more? I felt about as cool as this girl looks. The fact that it had a built in mirror to watch your children in the backseat, solidified the soccer-mom stereotype. I think God was smiting me for being a greedy girl! I was officially humbled.

The Official Pic!