Job Search

So the disappearance of me this week has been due to the fact that I have spent 30 hours plus doing charity stuff for Pulling for the Kids, going to the gym 4 times and actually..STARTING MY JOB SEARCH!

I am looking for work in the big city of Toronto, the boyfriend is looking at grad school there and away we will go to the Big Smoke. 

I want to work in the project management/construction management sector of Engineering so I do have a focused job search. On Wednesday I started a list and applied to about 5 companies, and then Friday I applied to another 4. Most were large companies so I had to do the online application/profile thing every time. By Friday afternoon I was completely and totally frustrated. 

Here's how the job search goes (for those who are curious :P). 

Step one. Go to the companies website

Step two. Click on careers

Step three. Click on the new grad link.

Step four. Read about how awesome it is to work for that company

Step five. Click on current opportunities

Step six. Scan 10 pages of job postings to find none that apply to new grads. 

Step seven. Sigh in exhaustion. 

I am exaggerating slightly, some companies did have awesome postings and I applied to those. But some seriously only had senior positions. If the posting says 5 years experience, I apply anyway...however I can't justify applying for the 15-20 year experience ones. 

I also caught myself doing something stupid. The minute I applied to some jobs I would refresh my email incessantly, as if I expected to receive a job offer on the spot. "Dear Kaylee, Your resume and cover letter were sooo awesome, we want to hire you immediately for your dream job and give you tons of skirllz (aka money). Love your dream company."  As if. Side note, if a company sent me an email like that I would ROFL. 

I also got excited on Wednesday after the job search and spent the evening looking at apartments in TO, and discovered my dream place, found out where the nearest Goodlife is, and then looked on HGTV to see if they had a casting call for the show "For Rent" where an expert helps renters find a place and decorates it for them. (They didn't..I was sad). Obviously I got ahead of myself slightly. 

So tomorrow I start again, on the hunt for the elusive New Grad position, and hopefully in the next couple of weeks I get at least one interview and even more so a JOB! Fingers and toes crossed!!! 

Meditation

In my first post I listed my things that I want to do on my free time. The first was going to the gym 5 days a week. That week I made it 3 times, and last week I made it 4 times. This week I am going to five. I started yesterday by going to a noon yoga class (I learned my lesson from last week and made sure to fit my gym in before 8:30pm).

I have been to yoga a handful of times. I am probably the least flexible person in the world, but I do enjoy yoga, I try my best! I have a weird hip thing where I can't sit cross legged, which can be a hindrance in yoga (but not much else in the world). I also enjoy how it is a class that eases me back into working out from a weekend break...it warms me up for the week. There is one specific yoga class I go to that I really like where the woman is just new-earthy enough to make it seem authentic, but is also realistic with the moves and the class's dedication to the art/spirit of yoga.

So I headed off to a different yoga class this Monday. I arrived early (shocker) and got into the room.  Everyone who was also early was in child's pose or in the "lay down asleep" pose. I sat patiently in an awkward pose since I can't do the cross leg thing and didn't feel like being all yogiey. So the instructor comes in and he welcomes us all in a hippie breathy way. And then proceeds to do the most intense yoga class ever. He was way into the exact right posture and moving people around and working individually if you needed to be pushed more..think Kristen Wigg as the yoga instructor in Forgetting Sarah Marshall but a man. I hated it!

Then came my favorite/least favorite part of yoga..the end of class where everyone lies very still and lets go of their body and mind and meditates..blech. If I had a stressful day, or if the class is in the evening I love this part, however I wasn't in the mood to let my mind/body go at lunch time when I still had the day ahead of me. So we are lying there and the instructor dude is telling us to relax our legs and arms, and then our shoulders and then our bodies and finally..our brains...and instead I was thinking about applying for jobs and my future apartment, because that is how I roll...but then suddenly a thought came into my head:
"Wouldn't it be hilarious if someone started singing right now" and the song that popped into my mind was this:

"I WANT A HIPPOPOTAMUS FOR CHRISTMAS...ONLY HIPPOPOTAMUS WILL DO..."

I almost laughed..out loud..in quiet-mind-letting-go time. I would have been shunned by crazy yoga man.

I will not be returning to that class fyi.

The Twin Terrors

As I lay in bed a few nights ago, attempting to go to sleep, I heard the door creak open. I looked around my room, but nothing seemed strange, all was quiet. I rolled over and tried to go back to sleep. Suddenly, I could feel a pair of eyes staring at me. I rolled over and there it was...A FERNANDO.

Fernando is my roomie's cat (named after Lady G's Alejandro). He is an all gray kitten/cat that she adopted off kijiji this summer. In the process of adopting him, I fell in love with his brother..and then suddenly we had two kitten's in our apartment. Moseby and Fernando...the twin terrors.  They are now 5 and half months old, and I swear they are going more insane. As I am writing this blog post Moseby is flying around the room like a bat out of hell, jumping from couch to chair to coffee table, and then running out the door again and Fernando is chasing him. They are also making weird chirping/meowing noises. Completely nutso. 

I have many cat stories, but to try to stop this blog from turning into a cat focused thing I will limit it to their recent activity. For example, on Friday night they decided the leftovers in the garbage were DELICIOUS and knocked over the garbage can in the kitchen...at 1:00am. That was fun to clean up...not. 

Another one of their habits that is the most annoying is the tag team that they have. First, Moseby gets up on a desk or dresser and knocks over anything that can be knocked over...pens, erasers, computer mouse, cellphone etc. Even my netbook almost took a dive from the paw of the Moseby. Then, once the item is on the floor Fernando will pick up any mouse sized item and take it to his stash, which we have yet to find. My roomie has lost make up sponges, combs, and a really expensive pair of tweezers. Nothing is safe from the twin terrors. 

Another new habit since Christmas time has been a fascination with the bathroom sink and bathtub. The other night I was in my room and heard a scream from my room mate in the bathroom. I didn't think much of it, until she told me that Moseby had jumped into the tub when she was in the shower. They are completely nuts.

Moseby watching Birds

Fernando lurking in my bed

For those of you who are not cat people, or pet people in general you may wonder why we put up with such creatures. I honestly think that cats (and dogs) somewhere along the evolutionary chain realized they could prey on humans. The deal they made with us is that they could use us for food and shelter and poop cleaning services based on cuteness alone. And when the kittens are cuddled up sleeping, or doing something silly that makes me laugh after a long day, they fully live up to their end of the deal.

Kittens sleeping (a few months ago)

Crosswalks

I have an issue with people who can't properly use crosswalks.

I have been running around a lot this week for the charity I am organizing (hence the lack of a blog post until now). This includes a lot of driving around campus. I know a lot of university campuses aren't super car friendly. This one is the same. The other day I happened to be trying to find a parking space and it was during class change. There were people EVERYWHERE. To get to where I needed to go I had to make two left turns through two intersections so in total four crosswalks. This shouldn't have been a big deal, but people didn't seem to get the concept of a crosswalk.

People were crossing before the cross walk, in the middle of the road, through the cross walk on a diagonal, and crossing in groups of 20. And the worst part was once it seemed clear, the last straggler would decide to hustle just enough so that I couldn't get through. It was like the opposite of Frogger.

I would classify people into crosswalker catergories:
1. The sneaky crosswalker.
This person decides to cross about 5ft away from the cross walk. This is particularly disconcerting if you are trying to make a right turn, you think the coast is clear and then WHOA there is a person.

2. The slow crosswalker
We all know these people the ones who shuffle across a crosswalk chatting on their cellphone, or talking with a friend...in general just taking their time. If they seem to be injured or elderly or have a gaggle of children with them than the slow crosswalker is acceptable.

3. The surprise crosswalker
The ones who at the last minute decide to change direction and actually cross in front of you. These people are particularly surprising at crosswalks  that are not at major interchanges. They cause drivers to react quickly and slam on the breaks and have a minor panic (drivers in general, not me I swear).

4. The non-crosswalkers
These people have no regard for the crosswalk at all.  These are the most annoying and dangerous of crosswalkers. They jump in front of traffic, cross when the light is red, cross on the diagonal and so forth. Drivers hate them, and other pedestrians are amazed that they are still alive.

5. The rushing crosswalker.
This person is most common at lighted intersections, they will wait until they see the opposing traffic light turn yellow and then they book it across the street, before the walk sign has any inclination to light up. Unfortunately in a group of people (especially early in the morning) the rushing crosswalker can get the entire group to cross before the light changes without even realizing it. They run the risk of being intercepted by another similar category of people: the rushing drivers, trying to fly through the yellow light.

6. The correct crosswalker.
These people are few and far between. They wait patiently to cross when it is their turn. They cross within the crosswalk lines. They may even stop on a curb and let a driver go through the intersection if it is busy. If they are blocking traffic, they quickly make their way across the cross walk. To the correct crosswalkers of the world...I love you all.

Those are my categories, can anyone else think of any categories that I missed? Comment away :)

Running Late

As mentioned in my "Busy Day?" post I am sometimes doing things on the fly. This made sense when I had a million other things to do, but now that I do have free time I really have no excuse.

Last Thursday because of my mishap with the Quinoa, I was late for Aqua Zumba...like 10 minutes late. It makes me feel bad for the instructor and bad for my friend who I was meeting there. It also meant that I was in the deeper part of the shallow end, and being 5'-2" made that a challenging work out!

Tonight was the same story. I really wanted to stick with my goal of going to the gym 5 times a week, and I am not a big fan of just going to the gym, I prefer the classes. For those who aren't familiar with classes at Goodlife Gym's, they put out this little sheet so you can sign up for the class, 15 minutes before the class starts. Sometimes the class fills up right away.

Because I wasn't in the mood earlier in the day, I had left the gym to the last minute. I found a 8:00pm yoga class 15 minutes from my apartment. I was planning on leaving at 7:30, to give me lots of time to sign up, set up and be relaxed for yoga.  I cleaned up supper, puttered around, and then got ready to go. I thought I was doing well for time. When I got in the car I looked at the clock and it was already 7:45. So I rushed over and got in the door of the gym at 8:00, but of course the class was already full. "Oh well" I thought, "I guess I will just run on the treadmill."  Then I realized, I hadn't brought my running shoes. I was prepared for yoga, not cardio. So instead of giving up, I went to the nearest Walmart bought a cheap pair of shoes and was back at the gym by 8:30. I did my thing and was home again at 10:00.

So for me wanting to stretch that last 15 minutes at home before leaving for the gym I ended up spending an extra 45 mins running around (and a new pair of shoes! Yay!). Super productive...not. Tomorrow I am going to the gym at 9:00 am and I will be 20 minutes early. I swear.

My Addiction

I have an addiction...it is called Saturday TV.  Even during school I would take Saturdays as my break day and sink into an afternoon (and evening) filled of Real Housewives, Millionaire Matchmaker, Project Runway and more. Yes my vice is Slice, with TLC coming in at a close second. Yesterday was no exception. Here is the breakdown:

Show 1: Millonaire Matchmaker
Premise: Matchmaker sets up millionaires (I know, huge shocker).
My take: Yesterday, I caught  the end one of the new ones. This show was replaying like 2 episodes FOREVER so I was super pumped. The actual "plot" involved 2 brothers aka the Italian Stallions. They both chose the standard typecast chicky for their dates. Brother one took his date to Medieval times dinner theater. Matchmaker was not impressed with his dating savvy. Brother two took his date on a sailboat and to a fancy restaurant. Brother 2 wins a second date.

Show 2: Bethenny Getting Married
Premise: The show follows Bethany   Bethenny Frankel from Real Housewives of New York and her life during pregnancy/planning her wedding/writing her billionth food book. Bethany is a "skinny girl" chef who writes such cookbook classics as: "Naturally Thin, Unleash Your SkinnyGirl" and "The SkinnyGirl Dish."
My take: Yes I realize this show is a spinoff of a spinoff, and Bethenny is pretentious in everything she does (including the spelling of her name as per my roomie), but I get such pleasure watching the lives of the rich and pseudo-famous. Highlights from yesterday's sode: 1. Goes to make her wedding registry and tells the helper guy that if anyone buys her the 5 dollar napkin ring they aren't allowed to come the wedding. 2. Her 20 something assistant asks her if people of her generation grind at weddings..she is 40. Her reaction is hilarious. 3. Her fabulous wedding planner in general. She goes to him 4 WEEKS before the wedding and expects miracles. So glad I am not him.

Show 3/4. Real Housewives of DC/Orange County
Premise: The "true lives" of rich peeps from respective places (other locals include Atlanta and NYC and New Jersey). They rotate new episodes on slice so there are a lot of repeats.
My take: Orange county was an old one where they all get into a big fight. Wait that is every episode. To shake off the memory of this particular fight, one of the girls has a tanning party with her bffs and the other plans mother daughter plastic surgery! Hurray! Everyone is smiling in the end. DC was interesting as it showed the behind the scenes story of when that couple "crashed" the state dinner last year. The best part was the other housewives and the gay stylist watching the trial and picking and critiquing the couple to pieces. Sooo Mean Girls.

Show 5. Project Runway
Premise: Designers compete for fame and fortune by completeing design challenges
My take: this show is actually fabulous and isn't comparable to the other ones. I'll leave it at that. Make it work.

Yesterday I even went a step further and watched some TLC in the evening, and the MISS AMERICA PAGENT ZOMG. The girls who got as far as the talent were actually amazing so that part was fun, the rest not so much. Some of the self introductions at the beginning were hilarious. I was trying to find some of the highlights online, but no luck!

So that was my day of mind sucking television. I also organized my computer files and photos which was semi productive. The benefit of Saturday TV is that it is great background noise for doing things like cleaning or organizing. Just entertaining enough to keep me slightly interested, but doesn't completely distract me. Unless there is an actually fight (ala Housewives of New Jersey), then I am completely focused on the TV!

Completely off topic: Yo Jenna I feel ya dawg.

Busy Day?

So yesterday I was so busy I didn't get to blog. Thats right, busy. I started my day at 8:00am with a quick trip to school to finish up some student council stuff. Then I went to the gym (Goodlife athletic training,what a workout!)  Next I ran some errands, came home, straightened up my room, quickly made supper, went to another fitness class (Aqua Zumba), then went out with some friends and then crashed as soon as I got home. Busy busy. And I thought I would be bored!

Yesterday was day 2 of the Detox diet. Last year after Christmas I attempted another detox from a magazine, and it involved drinking a broth, and veggies galore. It was gross. This one isn't too bad, just a healthier change from what I had been eating the past week! Last night I made dill salmon and quinoa.  I had never made quinoa before but I had always wanted to try it.Quinoa is a cous-cous like grain that cooks like rice.

Here is my cooking flaw. I can't cook rice. I love cooking and feel confident with any recipe, however rice is my downfall. 10 minute rice is about all I can handle. So sure enough, as I am cooking this quinoa (which is not cheap) I notice that there is a nice toasty smell. Mmmm delicious burnt Quinoa. I was already tired and starving and at this point I just wanted to give up and order pizza. However, I didn't freak out (too badly) and quickly re-mediated the situation and saved the Quinoa.  By the time I got all that under control I barely had time to enjoy my meal before I went to Aqua Zumba. Oh well!

Tonight I am giving myself lots of time and making Lively Lentils and Creamy Rice and yes the rice will be 10 minute rice. It has coconut milk and curry, mmmm. How that counts for a detox I have no idea, but I won't question it haha!

The Onion

One of my things to do during my free time is to clean/organize my apartment. During the past 2 months me and the roomies were quite busy (exams, final projects, living at school for 18 hours a day), so cleaning was something that happened as a method of procrastination, quickly and only touching the surface. The apartment wasn't unlivable or anything, just needed some TLC. There was also a funky smell in the kitchen that I assumed was from the fridge, which scared me. 

Yesterday I started by rearranging some stuff in the kitchen. For the 2.5 years that I have lived here, the microwave was placed so that it took up most of the limited counter space. Cooking was a hassle and often the table became the counter space. It was something that in the hecticness I put up with, but was constantly annoyed with.  So yesterday was the day I moved the microwave. This became a domino effect that got me cleaning the kitchen. 

In the process, I cleaned out the drawer where the onions are kept (in an old desk, left over from previous tenants..yay student living!). A few sprouts here and there. No big deal, in the compost they went. However, there was still a lurking smell of rotten onion. I suddenly realized that the drawer below hadn't been opened in a while. I opened the drawer and two bags of onions were in there. One had sprouts at least 10 inches long on each onion. The other was barely recognizable as onions. I wish I had taken a picture (an idea of the monster from google here)  to post here, but my first priority was to get them in the garbage. In the garbage, double bagged they went, and I felt that I had conquered the beast.

As disgusting as it was I felt a real sense of accomplishment. I finally fixed something that annoyed me. This is something I want to continue during my free time. I have a really bad habit of putting things off that bother me, just living with something that doesn't work only because it takes a little effort to fix. What I have realized is fixing these little problems makes me feel better in the long run. 

So today I got to prepare supper (Asian Pasta Primavera from Chatelaine's Holiday Detox meal plan) on a free counter in a clean kitchen. Success. Side note, it was delicious! 

Numero Uno

Hi there world! Welcome to my blog.
First of all, Happy new year. I know I am about 11 days late, but today was the first day that I have started to do nothing. For me, it is day one. I have been travelling for the past week or so, so it didn't seem right to start my blog on the run. I wanted it to start authentically, with me actually having nothing to do, living my new life as normally as possible.

Nothing to do is a deceptive term. I actually have a to-do list, which I guess is cheating. I think it would be impossible for be to completely shut down and relax. My free time will consist of me doing the following things:
going to the gym 5 days a week
cooking delicious food
organizing and deep cleaning my apartment
finding a job
writing this blog

Also I am organizing a charity event for the first week of February, which to most probably doesn't seem like a "free-time" thing to do, but compared to the past year of my life it is a relatively stress free activity.

I also want to read more. This is a hobby I gave up during school, but I still love doing it. In the past week I read the Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. Gretchen details how she realized she had a great life and was happy, but wasn't as happy as she felt she could be. Through a year of resolutions and lessons she learned a lot, became happier and I hope to apply some of what she learned to my life! I particularly enjoyed the chapter where she highlights her de-cluttering strategies.  I highly recommend this book!

I also am going to do something fun from magazines. I have noticed that magazines often have "30 days to a new you" "10 days to change your life" etc. so I want to try completing some of these lists. Martha Stewart's tip of the day may also surface.

It is quite strange to be in the same city as my school, with my roommates, boyfriend and most of my friends still in school (due to different programs). It makes me feel a little guilty about this free time. I walked past my school today and automatically felt like I should get back to work on my major final project. I guess with time, that feeling will wear off. And for a distraction, I have all those "free time" things to keep me busy.

On the next post...I start my week of Holiday detox from Chatelaine meal plans, and discover a new species growing in my kitchen (told you I was deep cleaning).