Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to you all my blogging friends!  

I am so excited for 2011.  Mostly because 2010 sucked. 

But hey, so far, things are looking up, especially since I will end my year long stint of unemployment in two weeks!!!  So so excited for that.  

So I've been wondering what your resolutions are?  

Mine didn't go too well last year.

But this year, this year is going to be different!  

Right?  Right!

My overall goal is :  be more productive.

Problem with this is its largely unmeasurable, 

and I like goals that I can CROSS OFF a list.

Have you learned that about me yet?  ha!

So here are a few more of my goals for 2011....

• Ride bike enough to pay for itself - (more on this later, but I got that super cute bike from my mom for xmas!!)
• Volunteer
• Get back to my happy weight (not my skinniest ever, just the one I am at when I'm being healthy)
• Complete 30 tasks from my Day Zero list.
• Finish decorating our house.
• Do the dishes right after dinner.
• Make British friends
• Go on a honeymoon
• Get to bed by 11pm 
• Start our art collection
• Go on a cool date with Nick once a month (we are alternating months, he is planning this month... and I am planning next month - any ideas?)
• Annnnnnnnnnd, last but not least - Explore the Peak District (the national park which we basically live in ) once a month!  

All these pictures were taken in the Peak District over Christmas.  

It really is a pretty place.  

Good luck with your resolutions if you're making them!  

I'd love to know what they are!

God is a Comedian

Dear God,

You really are a card.  Remember that deal we made freshman year?  I was a slave to H&M and we decided after I got my degree I would not be like the people I worked with.  (OK maybe I decided that myself).  Anyways, remember them?  I'm sure you do seeing as you're God and all.  One of them had a degree in human resources and the other one was qualified to be a nurse.  I don't know why the HR guy worked there, but I know the one who was qualified to be a nurse didn't pursue a job nursing because she would have to take a drug test if she was a nurse, and that would interfere with a few of her lifestyle choices.

Via

But I made (mostly) good decisions.  I studied really hard.  I even went to summer school to load up on extra classes.  I did pretty well.  And everyone said I'd get a good job because I'm "smart."  I never thought I was smart.  You and me both know I'm just really good at memorizing things.  But if enough people tell you something, you start to believe it.

Via

So God,  I think you're having a laugh right now.  It must have been pretty funny to watch me blubber my way through my interview for a grown up job last week, pretending I'm an adult with my Sarah Palin hair and my Sarah Palin business suit, but none of her confidence - even though I prayed to you 72907123 times before I walked through that door.

Via

 And today, I go to drop a resume off at an Italian restaurant chain, at a job I barely want, and a guy wearing a TAZMANIAN DEVIL tie interviews me.  Look, I know he is one of your children and all, but seriously, a tazmanian devil tie?

Via

And I'm supposed to work FOR him?  Assuming I get the job, which I'm pretty confident I did.  That's great.  Thanks for helping me live up to my potential.

Love,
Kelly

ps.  I'm just kidding, God.  I do appreciate the potential source of income if I get the job.

One Small Favor

I have a job interview on Friday and every time I think about it I feel like I'm going to throw up.

I wasn't going to tell you about it, because I don't like talking about it that much and I figured if I told you and I didn't get it then I'd have to tell you I didn't get it and then I would be sad.  

But I believe in the power of prayer...

So if you're reading this, and you believe in that too, please pray for me.  

14. Get Experience at a Vet Clinic

Hi Friends!

Thank you for keeping your fingers crossed for me if you have been.  It must have been difficult because they would have been crossed for a very long time!  But guess what - I finally managed to arrange some work experience at a vet clinic!

A terrible selfie of me and part of Phil watching cheetah surgery in Africa

I don't start for another month, but I am really excited as it is one of the major steps to fulfilling my career goals.  I'm hoping to make a very good impression, get nice references from it, and maybe, just maybe it will lead to something else.

My dad told me the more you do the luckier you get... 

well Dad, I'm trying to get lucky!

If I'm really lucky perhaps I could figure out how to get them to pay me!  

Thanks again for your prayers, well wishes, and finger crossing. 

The Endless Job Hunt

via weheartit

I totally fell for this bullshit.  My first year of college, we had this funny little man with bright yellow sneakers come in and talk to our class about just doing what you LOVE.  I was so into it.  At the end of that day I had scheduled an appointment to talk to the curator of large mammals at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago.  She was awesome.  Then somehow my mom's catering company started catering a function called Angels in Flight, for cheetah conservation.  Here my mom was introduced to a cheetah conservationist.  Before I knew it, I had applied to do a student internship in Namibia, at the Cheetah Conservation Fund and I was spending my summer hanging out with cheetahs and tracking leopards.  It was fabulous of course.

Tracking radio-collared mom and cubs in Namibia

Meanwhile, my dad was encouraging me to get a business degree and I was insisting that I just wanted to work with animals.  I started off studying biology, but I got so sick of hearing about the premed kids and their stupid MCAT, that I transferred my major to Environmental Science.  After a stint working with elephants and rhinos at the Cincinnati Zoo I concluded that while these animals were amazingly cool being a professional pooper scooper just wasn't for me.  I honestly enjoyed the physical labor, but I wanted to use more of my sciencey brain than I needed for that job.  I later decided that I wanted to go to vet school, so I ended up taking all the bio classes on top of my envi sci degree.

Which leads me to my current state of getting busy - the job hunt.  I chose my degree based on what I wanted to do, what I thought I would LOVE doing. Now can someone please tell me how the hell I find a job doing it?  Because at this point my magna cum laude Environmental Science degree from a prestigious-ish university is getting me absolutely nowhere as far as gainful employment goes.  Everyone kept telling me, "Kelly with your grades you'll land a great job!"  I'm not one to brag, but my GPA is quite high thanks to a year of studying abroad in Australia (70% and up transferred home to a 4.0 - cha-ching!)

Swimming with wild seals in Australia

Now I've forgotten finding a job I love, I'm on the hunt for just finding a job - ANY job.  But I can't even get an interview.  Surprisingly, "daily maintenance of elephant enclosures" just isn't relevant work experience.  So maybe those do what you love feel gooders are right - I've chosen a career path I LOVE, and from the looks of it, I'll never have to WORK another day because no one will HIRE me.

That business degree is looking good right about now.

Anyone want to read my resume?