for those like me...

You may be approaching middle age and yet still have no idea what you want to be when you grow up. You may have even read books like "What Color is Your Parachute" yet..hmmm...can't seem to conceptualize it.

(Enter light bulb )

Career Cruising
Username: bloomfield Password: bombers

Here's a website where you can answer a few questions about your likes and dislikes...then it populates a list of 40 occupations that match to you. From the 4 people whom I know did it, the list seems to match up pretty well to interests. Though, there were some crazy one-offs here and there. Like Look at my #8. When looking at my list I noticed occupations in the top 10 were mostly on point, appealing to my raw desire to change the world.

For those who are interested, here's the top 15 careers it pulled for me.

1. Child and Youth Worker

2. Career Counselor

3. Industrial-Organizational Psychologist

4. Management Consultant

5. Principal

6. Art / Music Therapist

7. Adoption Counselor

8. Funeral Director

9. Addictions Counselor

10. Association Manager

11. Health Care Administrator

12. Clergy

13. Psychologist

14. Economic Development Officer

15. Massage Therapist


A big thank you to Kerry for the link

fall's rollin on in...

It's officially fall ya'll...and the weather is perfect. Not to hot. Not too cold with a nice breeze that just just makes me yearn for all my windows to be open. Living in the midwest truly makes you appreciate the distinct changes that each seasons brings. And right not I am loving the beautiful colors starting to erupt in the trees. Just witnessing their beauty seems to make my one hour commute to/from work a little more tolerable.

Just a few of the things making me smile lately:

~ Me & the boyfriend tearing down and installing new vinyl siding on the back side of my house this past weekend. It was a lot of hard work and I have tons of bruises and scrapes to show for it, but the outcome is so beautiful I want to cry! Slowly but surely, my money pit is becoming less of..well...a pit!

~ My family from California coming to Chicago on a surprise visit for my father's birthday tomorrow. I have to ask my abuelita how she liked the hat I knitted her.

~ Getting a call from an old college friend that I haven't talked to in at least four years out of the blue!

~ Drinking cup upon cup of Octavia's Organic Wild Blueberry White Tea. Oh my...it's just too good to drink with a frown!

~ Watching the new HEROS episode yesterday in HD. Every Monday night with be the official Heros night at my house.

~ Doing my statistics homework and actually conceptualizing what the hell I am doing.

~ Doing said homework in less than 2 hours!

~ Getting a well deserved raise right before my 29th birthday!

What's making you smile ?!!

back to life...

Yet another huge chunk of of time has passed since my last post. Alas, I have been busy trying to find myself and enjoying the last bits of summer as much as possible. Well, that, and the fact that I have been suffering from a supreme case of writers block. However, after browsing the archives of my beloved blog, an old and familiar spark emerged from within. Suddenly, I wanted to write. Reading so many things I wrote about and thought aloud about in years' past suddenly reminded me of the comfort of just letting it all out.

Part of me stayed away so long because I felt my live has become trivial...methodic...boring. AND, I refuse to be yet another blogger which writes about what she ate, what she watched on tv, and how life sucks. Despite bouts of depression and poverty over the last few months, life has been good. I have travelled a few times, been working out regularly, and slowly getting out of debt. However, just like my ever-shrinking audience, my world has wilted to the size of a pea. Confession: I have turned into a hermit. I don't know if it has been work, my relationship, my friends (or shall I say lack of friends that actually are there in thick and thin), or even my own self esteem holding me back, but truth is: I have enclosed myself from the world lately and have been scared to step back in. I felt gray inside. This, I decided this morning as I looked into the mirror, has got to change. I am too young to feel like I am dead inside.

So, I decided to chop all my hair off. It's kinda a symbolic new beginning of sorts. Out with the old, in with the new...loosing all past baggage..ya know what I mean. Actually, if I had the balls to shave it completely, I would. HAH! My boyfriend's going to freak! It's so dramatic of a change, the mutt might not even recognize me when I walk in the front door!

Talking about the boyfriend and the mutt, I FURTHER promise myself not to stay in the confines of my house knitting the night away, awaiting a call from the boyfriend saying he's on his way home, asking if there's food to eat, or even declaring that he's staying out later than usual. Even more, I will venture out to invitations of delightful outings, food, and dancing - solo if I have to, despite the fact the mutt will be all by himself yet again. I refuse to let life pass by while I sit on my couch wondering what could have been. Some of you may be thinking that I am saying all this as a sort of rebellion against my relationship. But that is not the case at all: I am not made at Mike, yet instead am mad at myself for letting my spark, my life, my smile...just slip away...if that makes any sense at all.

Anyway, it feels good to promise myself these things. It feels good to chop off my hair and to see my smile, which was just this morning hidden by layers of hair and self doubt. It feels good to do things just because I CAN...It feels good to remember I am young and not old, that I am beautiful inside and out and despite everything, that life is worth living fully and to be savored like prime rib. And damn, I am hungry..I am eager to once again taste it's nectar....