I will miss this place.

We just had my going away party at work. Check out my cake:



I also received a "gold-plated" staple remover hung on a sash that can be removed to double as a paper weight. Awesome.

packin'

Tomorrow is my last day of work, and I'm sad to leave the place. My job wasn't super exciting, but I liked the place, I liked the people, and I think it was a great experience to work there, both as an intern and as a real-live employee. The only nice thing about leaving (other than moving on to another job that I expect to be a little more exciting) is that everyone is being extra nice to me. Last Friday after work my whole department went out for drinks, Monday the crew I eat lunch with had a potluck for me, and tomorrow there will be a cake for my goodbye party. I'm usually not this popular.

In addition to finishing up my project and eating cake tomorrow, I will have to clean out my desk and take home my (meager) decorations. But I won't have time to sulk after work, because I'm going to head straight to the airport and hop on a jet to Las Vegas. No joke.

My parents and brother had plans to be in Vegas for a Nascar race, and the day I was offered my new position and learned I would have a week off between the two jobs I invited myself along for the family vacation. So we'll be there for a long weekend, and then I'll drive back to Santa Fe with them and hang out for the rest of the week. I expect many fun times.

Lovin' Lincoln

Nothing says romance like makin' presidential origami on Valentine's Day. Josh gave me a book on how to make Americana origimi, and tonight we made our 16th president. Because we're awesome like that.

Valentine package

My parents sent me a package for Valentine's Day, and it's pretty exciting. Notice the pink rubber ducky, the chili chocolate, and the heart-shaped pasta. And of course a package from my parents wouldn't be the same without my chocolate milk...

Thanks Mom and Dad!

exciting thing

Remember back in December when I won an iPod but was not super excited because the win was preceded by "depressingly unlucky news"? Well, that unlucky news was that my job would not last nearly as long as I (or my boss) had thought. In fact, it's ending at the end of this month. Yes, the economic crisis hit close to home. This also helps explain why I was so excited about the library, and why I was mad at the heater for resetting to 70. With unemployment looming in my future, I tensed up. A depressing cloud settled over me, and I couldn't seem to get happy about anything knowing my future was so uncertain and scary. I can't even imagine how much worse this feeling must be for all those other people losing their jobs but still having to pay mortgages and support families. These are hard times.

My own future, however, has just brightened. Yesterday I was offered a job, and I am overwhelmed with gratitude and relief. Not only is it a full-time permanent position, but it also happens to be exactly what I've been wanting to do since I graduated from grad school. I won't go into details here and now (unless I know you in real life- feel free to email me!), but let me say it involves history, uses my graduate degree, and is located in Charlottesville. I am very excited, and I'm also very aware of how lucky (or blessed, rather) this offer is at this time.

Sorry about that.

It's been almost two weeks since I last posted, so sorry about that. However, I don't really have much to say. I mean, I could tell you that I went to a violin concert last Friday with Grandpa and the violinist was pretty great, so even though I'm not usually a big fan of the violin I was really glad I went. Or I could tell you I saw a few snowboarders land on their faces Saturday afternoon a few blocks from my house on imported snow. I could tell you about how I went with my grandparents to lunch yesterday pretty far away on the Southside to eat seafood next to a big lake or reservoir or something, and even though the food was average and slow, it was still fun to see the water on a warm day. I could tell you I was sad the Cardinals lost because while some people told me yesterday they had no idea Arizona had a team, I knew because they happen to be my Dad's all-time favorite team and we even put a Cardinals ornament on our Christmas tree. I could tell you the power went out at my apartment twice last week, and it's annoying because when it comes back on the heater automatically turns to 70, which is way higher than I set it when I'm gone, and that costs extra money, which I'm trying not to spend any of. Well, that's about all I could tell you, and I'm sorry none of it was terribly exciting. I'm hoping to have exciting things to share in the near future. For now we'll all just have to wait.