Letting go was hard to do,but I had to do it.

We are now in June. This month has just begun and already I know I will be busy,as I mentioned in my last post. I managed to clean out my old room at my parents house and donated two bags worth of clothes to the less fortunate. Rummaging through my closet and drawers brought back memories of the days where I hit up downtown and also all the major events that I attended. It felt good to clean all of that out because it brought back a sense of renewal,a sense of starting out new,even though I went through major changes already over the past year. However, throwing out all the things that I did not need anymore also gave me a sense letting go of the past and moving on with the future. Also,throwing out my old stuff was the remainder of all the things that I let go of over the past year,which included people that were toxic in my life.

Soon it will be July and I hope to not be as busy and start hitting up the beach. I live next to the lake now and will go whenever the weather is warm,but the real action is North Ave beach where all the youngsters hang out,play volleyball,and listen to live 80s music. Also,catch up with some friends that I haven't had time to meet up with is something I want to put on my to do list.

Time is of essence.

So I have been apartment hunting and actually,I may have lucked out. I did my second rounds of apartment hunting today and actually found an apartment with great space,with the amenities that I wanted such as laundry room,elevators,etc, and for a reasonable price. I had to go a little out of my price range but all the utilities are included so it all comes out the same. One block down I live by a major street with grocery stores,coffee shops,restaurants,etc. My favorite Ex-Yugoslavian import store is apparently a few minutes away walking distance as well(I am REALLY excited about this one).Hopefully I won't have to rent any much longer and soon I will be able to own my own condo in the city,something I have been dreaming about for quite some time now. I realized after looking for an apartment not everything you see for rent is "perfect" and unless you own your own place,you really can't be picky.

In the midst of all this I am still planning my wedding,it seems I just am all over the place now. I also have to go to my cousin's wedding in Detroit next month. And of course going to the gym,something I must stick to if I want to be at my ideal weight for the wedding.

One thing I had to let go was my former contributing author gig on GalsGuide. The requirement now is once a week you had to blog,and I had preferred blogging at least twice a week but it turned out that was not what they are looking for anymore. It was kinda a blow to my ego but what can you do? The guidelines seem to be more strict and not as lax as it once was *sigh*.

With my new life right now,I hope to continue my interests,or at least pick them back up once my wedding is all over,but for now everything is just chaotic right now. It's been also my one year anniversary since I began working for the company I have been working for so my performance evaluation is coming up(wish me luck!).

At least I still have my blog,and I may try to focus more on it,if I have the time that is. But at least I can control how often I can post :-)

Book reads that may help your personal life.

So I was chatting away with one of my gal's who lives on the east coast and lately she has been stuck in this rut with men. I was there once. I also have to admit that I am all about self-help books and feel they have an impact on people. You see, some of us learn in various ways-you got the visual learners,who have to see it in written material/video in order to absorb any information that they can apply to in everyday life,then you got learners through practice,and the other way is if someone explains it to you. However,the latter does not always work,you can give someone advice until you are blue in the face and it is sometimes like hitting a brick wall. In one ear and out the other.

Here are some book recommends that I have read that kind of helped me out:

"Why Men Date Bitches"- this book's funny title caught my eye one day so I decided to check it out. Yes, some of the things in their are SO obvious(like all self help books) but it really hit home because I saw it in writing,I don't know,it was pretty insightful. The follow up "Why Men Marry Bitches" is also good.

"The Secret"-Yes again,the stuff in their is so obvious-if you stay positive,positive things will come your way. This is related to the Cognitive Behavioral Theory that I studied in school,but put in more latter terms. Again,to see it in writing and to refer to it is very helpful,reading it just kind of reminds you to stay positive,which can be difficult if you get caught up in being in a rut. This helped me SO much when I took my State Boards,I even did the drawing of the picture of myself passing the test-needless to say I did pass and not only that,the weather was nice and sunny just like my picture! Weird.

"Entre Nous"- A Woman's Guide to Finding her Inner French Girl(whew!). This book is basically about how a woman can stay chic like the French,love life,and don't get fat. Their diet advice was not even about dieting,but about having three square meals a day and non-snacking(duh!). I lost 8 pounds following this.

So if you feel you are in a rut-head to your local bookstore,grab a latte and spend the day reading up these finds or any other books that are insightful-buying a couple of these may not hurt either,you can always refer to them in the comforts of your own place,or better yet,hit up the park and spend the day there.

I joined the gym-sorry Chicago.

April in Chicago,and the weather is just not quite warming up-they even canceled White Sox's baseball game opener because there was snow on US.Cellular Field! It would have been nice to stroll among Bridgeport,home of the White Sox,and head on over to Pancho Pistola's, my favorite Mexican spot,among the Southside Chicago Cops and avid Sox fans.

I have been meaning to jog along the lake once the weather got warmer, and it is April already, and I have just run out of patience. So instead, I decided to join the gym. Yes I know,I probably can still run outdoors,40 degrees is not bad-but for me,it has to be super warm in order for me to tolerate any form of exercise outdoors-so for now I will just hit up the gym. Luckily,it's month-to month membership and I can cancel anytime,so I can be sure to be jogging along our beautiful Lake Michigan in no time,but just not now.

City of Chicago, please,I love you,but we sure hate your schizophrenic weather,and I just about had it hearing it from my east coast fiance...really now,New York has bad weather too I'm sure!

March is Social Work Month!

This post is rather late but better late than never...

March has been dedicated to Social Work month. This is the month where Social Workers are supposed to get recognized and thanked for the work that they do. First of what is Social Work you may ask?

Here is some background on how Social Work even got started. Jane Adams was the founder of Social Work,which believe it or not started out in Chicago in the early 1900's. Jane Adams intention of Social Work first started off as establishing community houses for immigrants that came to this country and needed social services to adjust to their new country. Soon Social Work branched out in different areas such as mental health,child welfare, medical, and so forth. The general idea behind Social Work is to help individuals adjust to their environment whether it's adjusting to a new chronic illness or going through a job loss by connecting them with resources that meets their needs and provide counseling to help them adjust to any life changes.

At one point Social Workers were not recognized as professionals and everyone was calling themselves Social Workers,taking advantage of the profession. Nowadays if you want to be a Social Worker you must have a master's with two years of internship experience and thereafter pass a state board exam to be licensed.

So if you happen to know a Social Worker,thank them in any way for their hard work and dedication to help individuals in time of need. Often times these workers are overlooked and not appreciated enough.

I am not going anywhere-really I am not...

So yesterday I finally was able to meet up with one of my girlfriends and her fiance after playing "phone tag" and what not. Since I got engaged my life has gotten pretty hectic and as we get older it just seems that we would almost have to plan way in advance in order to meet up with friends we haven't seen in a long time. Also with this economy and trying to save up for my big destination wedding this summer I had to also pass up many invites. For the most part my friends,who are also busy bees themselves, accept the fact that I can't come to every outing or event but I too, also understand that there are times where they can not make it out either. No hard feelings right?

I have(or had not sure yet) this one particular friend, "Kim" we will call her, who was really busy last year with her wedding planning and I was cool with it. She skipped out on many invites at that time and I even recall one time when we were planning out a night on the town where she never even called me to say until the next day that she stayed in to watch a tennis tournament. I forgave her no big deal.Whatever.

Friday was one of my days off from work and me and my fiance decided since it was a nice day to take a nice long walk through the city. I was on my way to Barney's New York buying a face wash from Khiel's when I get a text from Kim asking me to stop on by her place. I live on the Northside of Chicago and I was downtown and took the El train,so by the time I was going to go back to my apartment and drive to her place, I would have to turn around and come back because I had to get up really early to take care of some things in Indiana. Kim lives in a Chicago suburb a good 45 minutes to an hour from where I live. I let her know, however, that we were meeting up this past Sunday for dinner and catch up and it would be better if we see each other then.

Unfortunately, "Kim" didn't feel that way. So she text me back saying "if you don't want to be my friend, say it to my face."

Huh?

I text her back telling her that I didn't understand. If I didn't wanted to be her friend why would I invite her out? In fact,why would I even be associating with you at all? I don't know about you, if I don't want to be someone's friend,I just plain don't deal with them. Period.

She then proceeded to tell me that she has invited me several times to her place-if you don't know the Chicago winters right now,you would know that the winter here was so bad that I pretty much layed low,and I told her that,and I told her that once I am ready I can stop by, just not now.

Well this was going back and forth and then after I invited her one more time, it was then when she stopped responding all together.

At this point I am thinking "why do I even bother?"

Honestly if she was truly my friend,she would have understood, me and my other friends have a mutual understanding that we can get extremely busy nowadays and should not take it personal if we decline any invites or outings we may present. Don't take it personally if someone is unable to meet up with you from time to time. It's not you. Trust me. And if they can't accept that then I guess they were not your friend to begin with. I was thinking my other friends and I tend to bail out on invites and what not and we are cool with it-why is she not?

So that was my rant for the weekend. Other than that I had a great weekend, four days off- who can complain? On top of that I got some great Puma leather sneakers with rhinestones that I can't wait to sport this Spring :-) .

Hang in there, America.

For the next several days,I will be finally utilizing my paid time off hours that I have earned while working and take some time off for myself. I am extremely fortunate and thank God everyday that I still have a job. I hear my fiance on numerous calls with his friends saying how "things are slow" and that "there are no jobs out there." My girlfriend from the east coast and I chatted for about an hour and a half today and her significant other also is in the search for a new job since they have reduced his hours severely as well. It's almost everyday that I am hearing someone lost their job or is being threatened that they are going to get laid off.

I really don't know how I can be of help but for awhile I was out of work too,partly because all I had to do was complete my licensure after Graduate school. But with so many graduates also seeking for positions in my field, it was still competitive. I have acquired through research and practice skills that you can use on your next interview,or to snag that potential job. Let me know if you need any tips that I have used to help me land a job.