Training Boredum

I don't know if it's because I feel like I've been in training for 2 months or what it is, but I'm so ready for it all to be over with! I've done 4 weeks at Wells Fargo and two weeks for Edward Jones. I just want to be done and start working. I've been very excited to start using my IPod again and have my meal time routines.

J went to our monthly HOA meeting and was appointed the head of the Safety committee. He's pretty stoked about that. He'll be in charge of monitoring vandalism such as graffiti and assist the security officer on duty with police reports when necessary.

Two For One

You can also find me on my new blog: Ramblings

Sunny Sunday

Sunday, J and I took Mary and Barry out to eat at The Olive Garden. I hadn't been there since high school and we had a great meal. Barry mentioned a place called San Tan Flat and thought we'd like it so he drove us over to check it out. This place was cool! There was a ton of motorcycles there, a bike rally I assumed. The decor was country western with rusted old parts, old wooden tires, lanterns, horseshoes, saddles etc. when you walk in it's a regular restaurant, but you go through to the back and it's like you're in a little city. It's completely open with picnic tables, BBQ pits and dance floor. The little buildings surrounding the restaurant holds a Saloon, pool hall, and building you can rent out. They have live music also, but not while we were there. The food is typical and they have cheap beers. It was another great 80 some degree day which made it great to sit outside and relax and take it all in. We mostly watched all the bikers that were there. Between the cowboys from Saturday to the bikers on Sunday, we've had a lot of people watching and great times.

Friday and Saturday

It's been a while since I've been on here. The first week of Jones went well. I'm loving my schedule of getting off at 3:30. This week I'll actually be in training and won't be getting off until 4:30. I've been getting up about 5:30 every morning and that has been a hard change to adjust to. There was a couple days last week that I went to bed at 9:30. I'm used to going to bed around 11:00.

Friday night J and I went to the Suns game. J was invited by his college alumni. We got to sit down in front and watch practice. Afterwards, we headed to the second floor to have a supper which was BBQ pork and coleslaw. We had a patio which overlooked the main entrance. Felt like we were VIP! Then we headed to watch the game. After the game we headed to a bar across the street to visit with the rest of the alumni and keep the party going. It was a really cool thing for them to put together for the alumni. We look forward to any of the other events they put together in the future.

Saturday we were invited by Stefanie and her boyfriend Stephen to go boating with them at Canyon Lake. Since J and I have been there before, we couldn't wait to go boating and enjoy the beautiful view of the canyon. The weather was fantastic, sitting at close to 80 degrees. On our way home I wanted to stop at Filly's restaurant in Apache Junction that we've passed before and had struck my eye. It has live music, and well, you know how I feel about live music! Love it! This place was awesome! It was just an old, small town bar and restaurant with cowboy decor and a huge patio in the back full of picnic tables, beer troths, dance floor and complete with a live country band, playing old country songs. You could easily tell the locals from the tourists. All the locals dawned cowboys boots, hats, big belt buckles, knives and some rode their horses in. They have fried chicken on the menu and I was very excited about that. I've been looking for a place that had friend chicken on the menu. It's not around here at all. I knew hole in the wall restaurants would have that. I love pressured cooked fried chicken! I'm already eager to go back. J had a 1/3 pound hamburger with fries. The burger was huge with perfect fries. I don't think you could get a bad meal there. Later Saturday night we met up with Stef and Stephen again at the Fox and Hound. We had some drinks and got to know each other more. They are around my age, so it's nice to have someone we know and willing to go out with us to have a good time. They also just moved down to Arizona in October.

First Day

My first day with Ed Jones, started out a little rocky. My HR contact that I was supposed to be meeting at 7:45 wasn't to be seen. Finally, after sitting in the lobby with the nice security lady, another HR lady came to get me at fifteen after 8. I just needed to fill out some paperwork and get my picture taken for my badge. Come to find out, no one knew where Deb was. Finally she had called and stated she was stuck in traffic on the interstate. You see it was raining this morning but when it rains here people freak out and don't know how to drive in it. I'm used to flying by people in the snow or rain, so not a problem for me. Ten minutes of rain causes hellalot of accidents here. Which I don't completely understand since pretty much everyone who lives here is not a native and there are a lot of mid-westerners here. Anyway, another HR lady took care of me and sent me on my way with my manager around 9. My manager then took me through all of Mutual Funds to meet managers and team leads. Waaaayy to many names that I'm not going to remember. Afterwards, she went over some things and then we had a team meeting. Afterwards I headed to lunch. It was early for me to be eating lunch, but I went with it. They have a nice cafeteria and it was taco Tuesday! They must know that I love Mexican food :) What a great day of the week to start! The rest of the day I sat with a guy who went over my work. It's going to be really simple, but really laid back and chill. I love not have to think or worry about work after I leave work. We are given the opportunity to choose our own hours to work, so I chose 7-3:30, in which I'll be starting tomorrow. No one in my department works past 4. Traffic on the way to work wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but if it wasn't for a quick exit off the interstate I'd have a lot of road rage, luckily I only have 2 exits on the interstate and I'm off of that madness.

The Weekend Flew By

Tomorrow is my first day at Edward Jones. I'm excited to start but nervous about traffic and allowing enough drive time. I'll be sure to blog about it tomorrow night.

Valentines Day was celebrated at my favorite restaurant: Texas Roadhouse. I don't care about V-day as some chicks do. To me, it's just another day. We didn't buy each other anything or make a big deal out of it.

Today we went to see 'He's Just Not That into You'. It was OK, kind of a slow start and was getting long about 3/4 of the way, but it ended decent. I would like to see 'Revolutionary Road' in the theater. I've noticed that movies seem to be hitting the rentals earlier than usual, is that just me? anyone else noticing this also?

Interview Questions on Friday the 13th

Flipflops came up with some interview questions for me. I think it's a great way to get to know a little bit more about me:

1. You enjoy going to check out live bands. If you could see anyone in concert (alive or dead) who would you choose to see? What special requests would you want to hear?

Elvis Presley. Even though I know he'd play it, but I'd want to hear 'Always on my Mind'. Most people think he's overrated, but he's an icon and I can't help but be drawn to him, his songs, and his life. I've been to Graceland and seen where he recorded his first song. Yes, I get tired of Lisa and Pricilla living off of him and I wish people would just LET IT GO. I don't understand all the whoopla over his birthday and death. I feel bad that the guy died on the toilet, even though that might be every mans dream :)

2. What would your dream job be if income, education, etc. were not a factor?

Archaeologist. I would love to explore something or someplace that no one has ever seen. I have an infatuation with dinosaurs. I love watching the History channel when it's about dinosaurs. Egypt also strikes my fancy, I would love to go there someday to see the pyramids. I've heard it's amazing.

3. What are your favorite foods (I have a feeling its something Mexican??)?

Mexican would be my favorite food type. I could eat shredded beef tacos, bean & cheese burritos, nachos, and churros everyday. I am a big fan of fried chicken, roasted turkey, mashed potatoes with gravy, green bean casserole, BBQ ribs, BBQ pulled pork, club sandwich's, and baked beans. BBQ food would be my second favorite food type.

4. Are you happy with your decision to move to Arizona? What things about Nebraska are you surprised that you miss?

Yes I am happy with my decision. It has been a great life lesson and learning experience for me. There is so much to do and see here. It makes me want to move to other states to explore them also. There is much more life outside of Nebraska just waiting to be lived in. You can't beat how close I am to quick weekend getaways, like Las Vegas or San Diego or even a quick flight to Los Cabo Mexico or Hawaii.

Some things that I'm surprised I miss about Nebraska are the live local bands, some restaurants-such as Summer Kitchen Cafe & Catfish Lake, Eileen's cookies, Scooters coffee, Hy-Vee grocery store, Tory's vet, the free entertainment at the casinos in Iowa. The convenience of seeing family and friends. I actually can't think of a whole lot that I really miss which probably brings me to the fact that I've never gotten homesick.

5. What accomplishments in your life are you most proud of? What important things do you look forward to achieving in the future?

Independence. I've been paying for everything myself since I got my first job at age 16. I've paid off my own cars, schooling, pets, apartment rent, large furniture items etc.. I've never borrowed money from anyone including my parents.

I look forward to achieving more success in life. I've landed decent jobs without a college education. Of course having children will be a large achievement and will be my second accomplishment that I'll be most proud of when that time comes (hopefully without any hiccups).

Would you like me to interview you?

Here's the instructions:

1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me."

2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. (I get to pick the questions).

3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions and a link to my blog.

4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.

5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

Struck Gold

If you are in need of clothing or know someone who is, you better go shopping this weekend. I hit up the San Tan shopping center today to grab some business attire for my new gig and I hit the jackpot. I went to NY & Co in which everything I bought was either 20 or 30% off. Ann Taylor Loft will give you 20% off your entire purchase, including clearance. Banana Republic has many tops and bottoms 40% off their original price. Retailers are really gearing up for the Presidents sale and doing extra on top of that. I also discovered a lingerie store called Soma and had great assistance in finding my perfect size. All these years, I've been so uncomfortable and wrong. I think in middle school there should be a class for women to take that involves this kind of stuff.

Birthday Celebration

Today we celebrated Uncle B's birthday. His birthday is actually tomorrow but he already has plans with some friends. Since DQ ice cream cake is tradition for birthdays in my family, I thought it would be a good idea to bring it upon others. At noon, J and I headed to the nearest DQ to get the cake and have the happy birthday message written on it. We then stopped at Kohl's to pick up a small gift. I had it planned to make bow tie chicken pesto with garlic bread. Uncle B had never had ice cream cake. This surprised me, especially since his daughter used to work at a DQ in high school. The cake was delicious, as always.

Today I put frosted privacy film up on the front door side window and in the master bath above the tub. The front door window went real smooth and looks great. Now you can't see in the window. The window in the bathroom went OK, it was tougher. Not sure if it was due to the large window size or the brand of the film. I liked the brand for the front door window the best. They were rather inexpensive at Home Depot (under $20/roll). I recommend using them if you're looking for a different look, cheap privacy and to cut down sunlight exposure. There are many different patterns to choose from, including a stained glass look.

Busy Bee

My week off, before starting my new job, has been far from a vacation for me. I've been so busy that I only have been able to sit at night time. I've been planning my days out in advance. Today was clean the bathroom, do laundry and go to Joann's Fabrics, Super Target, Home Depot day. I went to Joann's to buy material to make curtains. There is a small window in the master watercloset and two small windows in my desk area that I'd like to cover up. We'll see if I can pull this off. I also bought some frosted window film, one for the master bathtub area and one for the front door side window I have a nice Roman woven shade in the master, but at night you can actually see though and see everything. Who knows how many times the neighbors have seen me naked in there. LOL Oops

Last night we had a big storm roll through. The wind was horrible! My chair cushions blew off, several flower pots blew over. I couldn't believe it blew over my Sago palm pot, twice! That pot is heavy too. I guess tomorrow I'll be re-potting my plants.

In a Nutshell

What a whirlwind it has been these last few days! The tile is all completed and we've begun the process of moving furniture back. I've spent all morning and afternoon removing dust from everything. J mopped the floor about 4 times. We took 10 bags of thinset (50 pounds per bag) back to the Monterrey tile to get money back for the unused bags. We divided 5 bags between our 2 cars since 500 pounds would have been way too heavy in one car. Also bought some grout sealer that J will be putting on Sunday night; it takes 4 hours to dry.

Friday was my last day at Wells Fargo. My plan was to tell my manager around 4:00 since I assumed they wouldn't want me to actually put in 2 weeks. Well, it was a coincidence that my new friend Stephen landed a new job too and we had it planned to say goodbye to the class and quit on the same day. We both wanted a week off before starting our new jobs. He told his manager Friday afternoon and he was cool with it and was fine with Stephen staying until 5:00 to finish the day. My manager came into our training room at 3:30 and wanted to ask me something about my claims I've worked on (I thought she might have heard the rumor of me quitting and was coming to question me about it). As she was asking me questions all I could think about was "this doesn't matter, today is my last day". So I said to her that before I answered her question that I had planned on coming to talk to her at 4:00 to let her know that it was my going to be my last day there, that I had found another job someplace else. I think her head exploded. She was pissed. She studderd several times and raised her voice stating that she wasted her time for our one one ones we've been having every week and asked me why I was working there today/Friday. I was getting pissed that she raised her voice to me, disrespected me and was acting very unprofessional. She asked if my trainers knew, they did because I had told them that morning. Then she stormed off into my training room, freaking out to my trainer. It was like all hell broke loose, shit hit the fan. The next thing I know my trainer sends me and Stephen an email advising us that we needed to type up a resignation letter and sign it. We had just completed it when Stephen's manager came in to get us and walk us out. All of this happened in about a 20 minute timeframe and we were escorted out at 4:10. I was just fuming! Never had I ever experienced anything so rude from a manager. I expected the escort, since most financial institutions do that. We were unable to say goodbye to our fellow classmates and only a couple knew what was going on. I felt like I had been fired, rather than myself quitting. It was a terrible experience. I had to come home and have some Vodka to calm myself down. Luckily, Stephen had planned on going out for drinks that night anyway.

At 6:30 we met up at the Tempe Marketplace at a place called D'Arcy McGees Irish Pub. Stephen wanted J and I to meet his friends Tim and Randi. We had drinks and a good time. Then around 9:00 then we headed over to Slices to end our night with some pizza.

Saturday was cleaning time and putting the heavy furniture back. We asked Uncle B and Barry to help with the big stuff. Later that night J and I headed to San Tan Shopping Center to Office Max for me to buy my brand new laptop. Yes, I am typing on it right now! Acer brand, web cam included, on sale. My Dell is reaching it's end, end of battery and end of memory. Then we stopped at Logans Steakhouse to eat.

Sunday, J and I headed to the Mesa Swap Meet (my favorite place to buy Southwestern decor). I wanted to see if I could get some area rugs for a decent price and buy some new sunglasses. I found a nice 5x5 area rug for our living room and a small matching rug for the kitchen. I also bought knock-off sunglasses, 3 pairs for $20!

I am looking forward to my week off. Although the weather has cooled down again, in the 60's. We actually had a ton of rain today along with hail. I still have alot of cleaning to do since this dust is everywhere!

Final Day of the Tile

The tile is completed and It looks awesome! Now all I need to do is lots of cleaning. I'll be spending my Saturday cleaning and moving furniture back. Well worth it though.

On the flip side. This morning I got the official "background check and drug test came back clean" phone call. WOO HOO! It's official now that I'll be starting Edward Jones on February 17. I've decided to finish out the week with Wells Fargo and let them know on Friday. I've very excited to start this new job.

Pet Peeves

The tile has been going really well. They will be finished up tomorrow and we'll probably move our furniture back on Saturday. My big purchase for this week will be a Swiffer Wet Jet. I've been wanting/needing one for a while now. The tile will need to be mopped a few times to ensure all the dust is gone. The entire house is extremely dusty from all this construction! We've pretty much have been living our nights in our bedroom. Our bedroom, bathroom and closet is close to the size of my old apartment, so I guess I'm used to it. HAHA

Tonight J and I went downtown Chandler to check out the art show they have every month on the first Wednesday. It was pretty fun and interesting. There was some old guy riding a bicycle around with a mannequin in his back basket wearing lingerie. WEIRD and SCARY! Afterwards we headed to Old Chicago to eat some pizza.

Pet Peeves at my gym:

1) People text messaging while "using" the machines
2) People talking on their phones while using machines... or worst on the treadmill which just happens to be next to me, talking loudly and for more than 2 minutes.
3) Not sanitizing with the wet wipes they provide
4) Parents who bring their kids and let them jack around with the machines and let them run wild... there is a daycare provided-USE IT!
5) During an hour long class several people loudly put their mats & weights away in the middle of the workout, interrupting your workout/concentration and me not understanding why they come to the class to only do it for a half hour

Demolition Tile-Day One

Today was the first day for demolition on the existing tile and carpet. Out with the old, in with the new. After a boring 4 hours of training, I called J at noon to see how it was going. He stated several times that it was extremely dusty. By noon the carpet and tile had been taken out and they were just getting started on laying our new tile. Only one crack was found on the concrete sub floor, but one downfall: it stretch from the front door to the patio door. That's one long crack! It's been patched, but hopefully over time it doesn't start to crack the new tile. If that happens, then we'll have some problems down the road. Since our stove has been moved outside, I don't have anything to cook on :) J and I headed to the gym later that night and stopped at Toms BBQ on the way home. Nothing like working out then eating afterwards! Tom's BBQ just opened a few weeks ago so we decided to try it out. I had the pulled pork sandwich with baked beans and J had the smoked turkey sandwich with baked beans. It was really good. J is really impressed with their cheap draft beer ($2.00) so he's excited to go back and drink "lots of beer" he says. We hope the restaurant makes it, it's actually next to my old job, Red White and Brew, but since it's kind of tucked back, it's hard to see. Good luck Tom's BBQ, we'll try to keep you afloat!


Did I mention that I saw a Roadrunner on Saturday? It was my first time so I was pretty stoked about that. I'll be researching their diets and see if I can attract a few in my yard, that would be pretty cool to have one hanging out in our yard. I'd name it Wylie of course :)