life and such...

who would have thought we would be where we are today a year ago? last summer, dylan had lost his job, i wasn't working yet, & he had just taken a week long course at college and started a new job. that new job was like the devil to me, it sounded absolutely terrible, even though you couldn't deny the pay was fantastic. but since then, he's taken his exam and become fully licensed, and i'll admit, it's not completely terrible. yes, some days i still hate his job, the hours, and the inability to plan things in advance. but, for the most part, we've become accustomed to it and its working out well for us. that said, he wants to switch companies in the spring/summer, & i hate change, but one step at a time, ya know?

as for me, i still can't believe i'm back in school, and actually really enjoying it. it's going by incredibly fast; in one month, exams will be over and i'll be off for just over 4 weeks! oh sweet relief. then it's 1 semester down, only 2 to go. i also can't believe how well i'm doing. a few 80s, but mostly 90s and even 100s. i only hope i can keep that up for finals and the next 2 semesters.

 i think i can attribute those high marks to the fact that i'm older now. i've (finally) realized the benefit of studying, doing homework every night, not letting things pile up, and not procrasting on assignments. it only took all of college and university to realize that (actually 4th year university, 2nd semester. smart, huh?). but at 26, i'm more serious about school and know the benefits of doing well and being the top of the class. do i want the best placements in 3rd semester? heck yes! do i want the program coordinator to recommend me as 1 of 3 to go to an 'honors dinner' in 3rd semester with one of the law firms with the hopes of being hired on? absolutely! so, if things get a little quiet (like they kind of have been), it's because i'm working my butt off!

unrelated picture, but the post needed one (the mall already has the christmas stuff up)

all this said, i'm off to class to write yet another quiz. college just loves the quizzes. seriously. at least 3 a week!

back to school, back to school...

warning, this is a little long!

not having any luck in the job search was starting to get to me. it has been 2 years since i've graduated university, and while i've had odd jobs here and there (3 to be exact), i never had that career job or even a job that paid well. it's so frustrating looking at jobs online, only to see that my 6 years of college and university education get me nothing. entry level jobs want years of experience, knowledge of this program, a certificate in that; none of which i have. i still apply, but i've yet to get any calls, obviously. and let just throw this out there, a few weeks ago, i was applying to a department store and you know what they had under qualifications? a degree in retail management! to be a sales associate!! so yeah, i felt pretty defeated.

here i am, at nearly 26 still in a rut of what to do with my life. dylan has always tried to talk me into going back to school, but i would just scoff and say, "and take what?! i have no idea what i want to do!" "i don't want to go and take just anything. i need a job after!" "a masters degree wouldn't guarantee a job either!" i truly enjoyed what i got my degree in; criminology and sociology, but more so the criminology. to me, it's fascinating and i loved it. i considered law school in my first year, but quickly changed my mind.

last thursday (july 11) when dylan and i were talking, once again, about how frustrated and lost i feel, and the fact that i still have yet to get a job since moving here, or any calls (career-type or retail) he again suggested school. he told me just to think about it. i went for a walk and tried to clear my head and while i was out, i started thinking about a legal administrative assistant. when i got back home, i checked out a few colleges in the city that offered it and read up on it. most jobs i look at online want this diploma and they pay relatively well, i've seen some postings up to $65-$70,000. *i know one wouldn't start at that, but it's nice to know it's possible to work up to that* i gave the college a quick call to make sure they still had openings since i would be applying late and they did. of all things, they wanted my high school transcripts to make sure i had grade 12 english. then i was sent into a tizzy  because i had no recollection of whether i took it (turns out i did, as it was mandatory) and i was thinking, "you're telling me i may not get in because of something i didn't take nearly 10 years ago?!"

i had pretty much decided, that yes, i'm going to go for it and just apply. i spend the next day calling my high school, college, and university to get all my old student numbers. i finished the application process later that day and only applied to the one school (even though i could have chosen up to 5) and figured i would play the waiting game for 3-4 weeks. i didn't think there was a real reason i wouldn't get it, especially with my educational background and what i took, but i didn't want to get my hopes up. and then there was the whole, "more debt?! really?!?" i've been paying off my student loans for 2 years now, but i applied again since we don't have an extra $10,000 hanging around in our bank account.

on sunday (june 14), i got an email early in the morning, "congratulations, you've been accepted!" first of all, i couldn't believe i heard back so fast, and second of all, i got in!! i did a little dance in the living room and my girl friends and dylan were there with me.

so that's that! i'm going back to school. it's a diploma program that is 12 months straight and when i'm done, hopefully i'll get a placement that will lead to a job, and a job that pays well ;) in the end, what's a little more school debt?!

i really do think this is what i've wanted to do, i just didn't know it. it may have taken me a little longer than most to get there, but i feel like i'm finally on track and doing something with my life that i will (hopefully) enjoy and that will get me somewhere.

excited!

holy crap, i'm going back to school!

*this was pretty long-winded, but i wrote it out mostly for me to keep a memory of*

on living together...

i can hardly believe that we've been living together for 4.5 months now. things have been pretty good for the most part. sure, we have the odd screaming match (ok, maybe not screaming, but definitely quite heated), and we banter about something at least every other day, but overall, things are good. it's nice to come home to someone every day, to have someone to share a bottle of wine with, and to eat dinner with someone.

living with someone before marriage was never an issue for me. naturally, this just felt like the next step for us. i actually think it's been a good thing, us living together before marriage. we get to work out the kinks, argue about cleaning up, and where things go, and dishes and laundry now, in these first few months, instead of starting off our married life angry all the time that i'm the one doing the dishes 90% of the time, or over them not being rinsed. stupid things like that, that are trivial, but make me angrier than they should. slowly but surely, he's helping out more, and it's much appreciated. the days when i come home from work and the place is nice and clean..there's simply nothing better.

the one thing i was worried about was still having me time. we spent 5 years in different cities, seeing each other maybe once a week, i lived alone in those 5 years, and i'm an only child. so i'm used to my own space, to say the least. i'm happy to say i still have lots of it :) even if we're home together, dylan spends a lot of time in the office, playing video games and such. you know, boy things.

our place now feels like a home, and i love that. we have our furniture, our car, our shared bank account (i still smile when i see both of our names on our cheques), our dog; all things we share and can be proud of. i can't wait to decorate for christmas, for the snow to start falling, and to cozy up on the couch and spend the evening inside with the tree lights twinkling beside us.

so this living together thing, yeah, it's pretty awesome.

updates about jobs & life...

it's been about a month and half since i wrote this post about our {quite big} bump in the road. i'm happy to say things are on the up and up, though it's still going to be a rough few months until things get easier. i mentioned that dylan had signed up for that one week course, which starts september 24th. well, he started handing out resumes to companies letting them know he would be completing this course by the end of the month and he'll be able to work. his friend has been in this industry for years and has always tried to convince dylan to join him. anyways, a couple weeks ago, dylan got a call to come in for an interview. he dropped me off in toronto for a few hours so i could wander around, and off he went. he called me not to long after that and said he got the job. you think i would have been happy, but really, i just cried in the coffee shop i was sitting in.

yes, it's a job, but in my opinion, it's awful. it's straight nights, 5 days a week, to start. he may not leave until midnight, he may get home at 4am. who knows. the reason he has to put up with this is because for work in this industry, you need about 350 apprenticeship hours (at $X/per hour) and then you join the union and your pay almost doubles, and it's a very good salary. this is one of the few companies that will train people and give them their apprenticeship hours. the plan is that once he gets these hours (it should take about 3 months), he'll quit and move to another company and work regular day hours.

other cons to this job? it's about 20 minutes outside of toronto. yes, the city i just moved from 2 months ago and love with all my heart. which also means....we had to buy a car. could we afford one at this point? nope. thank goodness his aunt and uncle are very generous (the ones we house sit for) and helped us out greatly. as of a few days ago..we bought this baby..

2007 hyundai elantra. our first car!

lets hope we can stick it out the 3 months (mostly me) and once he moves companies, it won't be so bad. the plan is that once our lease is up here, we'll be back in toronto and that makes me happier than anything really. and i know he loves that city, too.

as for me? i've been working part time with a local neighborhood BIA; assisting in the office, some social media, attending and helping with events, etc. it's a fun job, fairly laid back, but i do still need something with  more hours and more money. at least this is giving me experience in the meantime.

this was the long winded version of what's been up with us. we're still paying our bills and rent on time! we never hit rock bottom, or even close (financially), really; budgeting definitely comes in handy.

it's been an experience, this whole thing, and i gotta say, regardless of how cheap i am day-to-day anyways, i am ready to move on from it. i want to be cheap because i want to be/choose to be, not because i have to be, ya know?

week 1 down...

it's finally friday. my first week of work is finally winding down. by 7pm tonight, i'll have put in my 40 hours for the week. but man, working is hard. shocker, i know.
but how did it go? what are my thoughts? the one word that comes to mind is overwhelming. i was basically on the verge of tears the third morning. i was thinking that i'm never going to catch on, and i don't want to wait 8 weeks for it to 'click' like they say it probably will take. i also had awful cramps that day, and i'm sure you can put two and two together and assume what that means, and i'm also sure that had something to do with my emotions. but, as the day went on, it got a lot better and slowly (very slowly) i'm catching on.
the people seem pretty awesome, which is great because that can definitely make or break a job, and i'm sure i will end up having fun there.
hopefully today will be better than the last 4 and that's the direction it will keep going in. i know there will be some days where it feels like i'm taking a step back, but that's to be expected. lets hear it for the weekend! me and dyl are going apple picking bright and early tomorrow morning (like 8am) because he works at 12 and that's what we gotta do if we want to go apple picking this month. so lets also hear it for morning dates!

sad but true. via

or in my case, enough to pay rent and loans. oh joy. via

enjoy the (long) weekend.

and happy thanksgiving to the canadians!!

gobble gobble.

love, tempted by sales and yoga update

creative title, huh?
so if you saw yesterday, dylan posted this on his blog. so of course, last night i added mine back on his blog.

yeah, we're cheesy, but you do things like this when you live apart.

yesterday before class, i took chloe for a walk like usual. i figured i would go to holt renfrew because i remembered they were having a summer sale where things were up to 60% off. i saw a lanvin 'love canvas pochette' on the sale table when i walked in. of course, the original price was like stupid high for what it was($350 i think), but once it was marked down, it was more reasonable. i hummed and hawed over it, walked around the rest of the store, thought about it some more, took a picture, sent it to dyl etc... then i just went for it. i mean, considering when i look at net-a-porter, and the cheapest lanvin thing on there is a $245 key chain (and i definitely paid much less than $245), how could i not get it? i think i actually got it for a bit more than 60% off, it was marked down twice. besides, when will i be able to afford anything by them again? certainly not in the near future!

and lastly, thanks for the words of encouragement with yoga the other day-i did it! i went on sunday (by myself!) and suffered through it. it was tough, it was challenging, and i had to stop a couple times. but i made it through. i also sweat like crazy (remember, it's bikram yoga). but obviously that's expected. seriously, like my finger tips and ears were sweating... didn't even know they could...as soon as it was over and they put the cool air on, i felt amazing. i/m hoping to back again either friday or sunday. 9 times left on my card! by the way, my legs are still sooo sore!!

bikram yoga

wow, what an experience

we walked in the room, and surpisingly, it wasnt quite as hot as i had worked myself up to think. granted, it was still like being in a sauna. so we layed there on our mats, waiting for the class to start. a few minutes later, i have sweat forming on my back already lol greattt im not even moving yet!!

anyways, there was about 12 people in this class. me and dylan were the only 1st day people, but a few others who were only on their 2nd day, so we felt better. the class started and i was doing ok...before class, me and dylan had imagined that we would laughing at ourselves not being able to the poses and what not. but surpisingly, as soon as class started, we both zoned right in, and barely looked at each other. after maybe ide say, 25 minutes or so, i started to get faint. so i had to lay down. i was then ok to continue on again. sweat was pouring off of me like ive never seen, and i didnt even think my body had it in me to sweat that much! lol

the poses were getting more difficult as the time went on, and later on again, i had to sit down. but its really amazing how flexible you become in the heat. i was able to do things that i never thought possible! quite awesome. the class was coming to an end, and we were both struggling our way through. it wasnt even the heat that was bothering me in the end. its once you get to like pose maybe 17 and on, you have to lay down and then get up quickly into the next pose, then lay down, and up quickly to next pose, and so on..you get the point...i think the fas pase from up and down really took a toll on me and did me in.

need less to say, we finished the class and were impressed with ourselves. the teachers and front desk were happy too! haha half the battle of the first class is staying in the room...
so we ended up buying the 7 day trial pass for $20...so have all week to go and try it ...
i didnt go today, but i plan on going tmrw and possibly wednesday, and thursday ..and maybe friday and saturday?!? hmmm we'll see..i really WANT TO like this, and i know i just have to give me body a chance to get used to the heat. plus, the benefits of this: like toning, and the exercise and flexibility will be rewarding also. so i will MAKE myself like this lol
the only downfall: its quite costly..monthly, 10 passes..ya $$$$

anywho..thats my first time experience
hot, sweaty, challenging, intense, and rewarding..all wrapped up in one 90 minute heat wave.