LA

Ok so on to something more exciting and not so stressful! My trip to LA was nothing short of AWESOME!!! My sister and I flew out of RIC to LAX on Thursday May 29th and arrived in LA a little before non PST. First order of business was to secure the rental car then we headed to the hotel. We stayed in Glendale, CA which is about 30 min from downtown Los Angeles. A friend of ours works at the Hilton in Glendale and hooked us up with a discount on the room!

We met up with a lot of friends and family while out there and even enjoyed some great attractions/events!

On the plane headed to LA!

one of the many beautiful views

Runyon Canyon! We hiked it! 

We made it to the top! 

Hollywood Blvd.

Elevator selfies before the Guy & Tony Toni Tone concert.

Color Me Badd! 

Hermosa Beach

Cousin David and us in Malibu! 

Cousin Yvonne at her house in Inglewood.

Heading home! LA was indeed....#dope. I will be back! 

Blanche

Doing more house hunting today and I'm starting to get a little discouraged. I feel like this is becoming my life to find a place for me to live. Nevermind finding someone to stay in my house, because that will happen without any control on my end. I have done all that I need to do to secure a tenant so there is no need to worry or stress about what happens with that from here on out. Of course I should be taking this same approach to finding a place for me, but one thing that has been pulling at my heart is trying to find somewhere to live that will accept Blanche as well.

I adopted my sweet pet Blanche on November 12, 2013 from the Charlottesville SPCA. She was described as a Boxer (mix), but I'm not certain what she's mixed with. Many people have guessed either a pit bull or a bull dog to be the mix. While searching for apartments, I'm noticing that pit bulls and American bull dogs are listed as "restricted breeds" and any dog mixed with them are not welcomed to stay. Because I'm not sure what she's mixed with, I'm not certain she will be accepted at the places I have been looking at. It doesn't hurt to try, but I'm a little worried that we will be turned away due to the ambiguity of what she actually is. 

I e-mailed a potential roommate inquiring within about renting a room in her home and informed her that I have a dog who is a boxer bulldog. I have decided that I'm sticking with the fact that she's an English bulldog mix and that's final. No matter what others may say. Either way, the girl e-mailed me back immediately and said "no boxers or bull dogs" in that they are "aggressive" breeds. :( 

My neighbor has offered to take Blanche if I can't find anywhere that will accept her, but the more I think of that, my heart begins to hurt. I don't want to have to give her away because I have grown to love her like she's a part of my family. I would be devastated if I couldn't keep her!! I'm standing in the need of prayer right now that everything will work out and I will be able to keep her because I would be so sad if it had to go another way. 

I never knew I could love like this, but she's my baby!!

She's such a diva! :)

Fun with Blanche while she was taking a snooze! 

I love this little face!!

She thinks she's a lap dog....all 60 pounds of her! 

#JesusWillWorkItOut 

Up next....housing....

One part of the trifecta puzzle has been solved and I have finally found a new job! It's a true sigh of relief to have one piece of this figured out and crossed off the proverbial "to do" list. Next up is finding a tenant for my house and finding somewhere for me to live in my new city.

In regards to finding a tenant for my townhouse.....*crickets*.

Not one person has even inquired about living here. I contacted my property manager on Wednesday of last week to tell her I got the job and to see if any traffic had been buzzing around for a potential tenant. I knew nothing had been going on because I know she would have contacted me immediately if there was anyone interested. Since I've got a new time line and sense of urgency now, I asked her to drop the price for the monthly rent and to put a sign in my yard advertising that the place is available. Thus far, it's been almost a week and still...nothing. I also told her to list that the property is available July 1st instead of August 1st to see if that would entice a potential renter. With these changes, I'm hoping and praying that something will happen soon. I'm trying not to stress or worry because after reading over my previous posts, I am reminded how things have come together even when it seems like it's down to the last minute. I am trusting God to work everything out just like I know he will....so there's no need to stress if I'm leaving it in his hands!

Now on to me finding a place to live in. I thought this was going to be the piece of cake part. WRONG! Of course I knew it was going to be dumb expensive to live in Northern VA, but I really didn't know how DUMB expensive it really is. I'm talking $1500 for a one bedroom whole in the wall. Or better yet, $1100 for a 1 bedroom apartment in a very unsafe neighborhood. Smh...sounds like Charlottesville, but the prices weren't that bad. I'm trying to find a roommate, but wouldn't mind living alone. Of course with living alone, I'm trying to find some place that's cheaper than $1200, but for right now, it looks like I'll have to find a roommate if I want something for that price. I'm heading up to the area this weekend to do some searching and am really hoping I find something. My sister suggested that I stay with my brother, but I'm not too sure how that would work out because of some apprehensions I have regarding his financial stability and responsibility. I may revisit the option as I get closer to my start date, but for now, I'm so over looking for a place...and I just started. Sad!

I tell you, this has been a challenging year and I knew it was going to be this way. It's all good though, at the end of the day, I'm making it and taking it one day at a time. I know I'll get through it and everything will be all good. I'm just ready to get settled, be in my new place, and be able to kick back and relax....to finally be able to just breathe!

Stay tuned....

I GOT THE JOB!!!!

Nine months of job hunting has finally come to an end!! Last week, I was offered a position at THE high school I mentioned in my previous post!!!!! I am beyond excited about this opportunity!!. This county had a ton of high school openings while I was conducting my search. I checked the location of each high school that I applied to and this particular one had the best location in my opinion. I still applied to the other schools just in case, but was secretly hoping and praying that I would get my top choice. As time went on, the other high schools were filling their positions left and right. I did some further research on the demographics of the school and I was sold! The population it serves is one in which I have a true passion for working with! Everything fell right into place with this one and I'm truly thankful and give all glory and honor to God!

So here's a short version of the path I've been going down since the last post. I feel the need to share this because only sharing the victory without the struggle can lessen the impact of how great this blessing is.

Interview #1 that I had at the elementary school in Richmond basically turned me down. I wasn't bummed about it or anything because I really didn't want that job anyway. I'm not even just saying that as an ego defense mechanism because I was rejected. I really did want a high school position and this one was for an elementary school position. I also found out at the interview that I would be part time at one school and part time at another if given the job. Totally not ideal and I wasn't really feeling that either.

As I mentioned before, I sent my cover letter and resume to the principal at the high school I really wanted to work at after my screening interview. I got no response from her. I wasn't even sure if she read my e-mail. Well about two weeks later, I was just getting off of a plane coming home from a vacation to Los Angeles with my sister when I got a phone call from a random 703 phone number around 6pm. I picked up and there was a woman on the other end stating that she was from the high school I was looking to work at and was wondering if I was available to come in for an interview in 2 days.  Eeekkk!!! I had just taken a 5 day vacation and would be just returning to work and then to ask for another day off?? I wasn't sure if I would be able to pull that off, but I asked anyway and my boss said yes!

So I headed out for this interview and it took me about 2 hours to get there. A two hour trip followed a 12 minute interview. Yes...that's right...I was only in there for 12 minutes. I talked so fast and there were only 10 questions. I headed home just praying I did well. About 4 business days went by and I noticed online that the position still hadn't been filled. I was getting nervous and wondering if I would be offered the job or not. I figured if they really liked me, they would have called immediately to offer me the position. A few people advised me to call the school to follow up, but I was so scared that I would seem pressed or thirsty that I debated if I should actually do that or not. In actuality, I was really scared of calling to here "sorry, we went with someone else" and it'd then be "that awkward moment". Well I mustered up the nerve to call and the principal said "I haven't submitted the names yet, and that's all that I can tell you. Just hold on. Just hold on".

Hmmm..."hold on" ey? Well I suppose she wouldn't tell me to hold on to only get shut down, right!? Low and behold, the next morning, I got a call from a representative from Human Resources offering me the position and I happily accepted!!

So there you have it...I am now a high school counselor!!!!! :) Thank you, Jesus!!!