Rachel's Got a New Job & Our Ceiling is Leaking!

We have had a wet March around here. And I don't just mean the random snow and then rain and back to snow every few days. Our downstairs bathroom has been leaking a lot as of late. In the past week & a half we have collected almost 9 1/2 quarts of water--I haven't emptied the bucket because I plan on showing our manager and the maintenance worker. Luckily, we do have a great apartment manager who has been helping us out with this. She quickly got the roofers here to get an estimate, e-mailed the bids to her supervisor and now we're just waiting for the contractors to give us a time and date--and have the weather be steadily nice, for once! There are a few leaks, and sometimes near the bottom of the surrounding walls will leak. It could be worse, like when we had the apartment kind of flood about a year & a half ago. It is mostly just inconvenient and frustrating. The manager still has to get it approved, but she said we most likely won't have to pay rent this month, as a way to help us out.

But now for the exciting news: I got a new job! It's at a local, small law firm downtown. And I'll be working 9 - 5, Monday - Friday, with a good starting pay rate & promises for raises once my probationary period ends. Zak sent me the ad he saw on craigslist about a week ago, so I wrote up a cover letter (the ladies said it was the best one they had read for the job!) and sent off my resume. About a day or two later, I got an e-mail back asking for a good time to schedule an interview. On Monday I had my first interview, with the gals who held the position previously. It went really well, we had a good back & forth and it felt very natural. I convinced them I could definitely get the job done and be a great fit for the office. An hour after the interview, they called to set up an interview for Tuesday.

When I got there, the two ladies in charge were still interviewing the only other person for the job. So I sat and chatted with the girl I met the previous day for a bit. When I was called in, I knew I had a good chance of getting the job, they responded really well to my humor, personality and there was very comfortable feeling in the room. We mostly just chatted, they told me I got a glowing report from the other ladies and complimented my cover letter and resume. And told me they thought I'd be a great fit for the office, and how important it is to have personalities that work well in such a small office. So we talked for about 30 minutes and then they asked when I could start! I told them I'd talk to my current manager and then call them back. I could not stop smiling as I drove to the mall to tell Zak. And then I recapped everything that happened. I walked down to Smoky Mountain and told my manager that I got a new job and asked what the procedure was for leaving--I just had to fill out a form that said when my last day would be. He's hiring some new servers and wanted me to help train them this weekend, so I will work this weekend but that's it. I am starting my new job on Monday!

We are so excited. It's pretty much a perfect fit for me. It's a small, quiet office and I actually like office work. I'm only a little bit nervous that I won't live up to the expectations, but Zak has reassured me I will because I am awesome. So now we will be doubling our income, so I can justify buying some new work clothes!

On not-as-exciting-but-still-good-news, Zak is on the reserve list for fire crew. We're not exactly sure how big the list is or how big a possibility of him getting on the crew is, but he'll find out soon. I'm pretty sure training starts in May, so we have about a month to find out, I think. It was a pretty big blow to find that out, especially since Zak did everything in his power to make a good impression and talk to the guy in charge. But it's almost certain that they picked the guys with experience first. So that's been hard to let sink in. But it's not a definite no, Zak still has a chance. He's trying to get some other things in motion, back-up plans and the like. Hopefully he'll be able to find something that will be related to his field.

We've started to look at other apartments. It's not solely because of the recent leak problems, but we feel it might be time to move. We've lived here for 2 years and while we have liked it, we feel like we should let someone else who needs the nice, government-subsidized place have it. My biggest priority is having a washer & dryer, I've gotten really frustrated with the laundry facility here. There are a few places that we would like to move into, so we are putting out feelers for them. We have to give our apartment manager a month's notice, so we are trying to figure something out soon and hopefully move mid-May. At least we have a truck now, so it'll make things easier!

So, a mixture of good and bad news for us. School is still going well for Zak, he is doing great in his classes and all that jazz. I've been good about working out 3 - 4 times a week and eating better. I'm almost to the point where the next size down in clothes will be comfortable and not as tight. So close! And I've gotten a lot tanner, so hopefully by the time I head to California, I'll be brown Rachel again! That's all I have for now, I'll try to write a new post soon--about my first week of work and whatever happens with the roof.

Busy Bees

Well we have survived Zak's first week back to school after a two-year absence. So far, so good. This semester he is taking Stats, Chemistry (with a lab), Econ, and Forestry (with a lab as well). His schedule is a little irregular, but I made up calendars and all kinds of useful reminders so we can get into some sort of rhythm. He says classes are going fine, they're not super exciting, but he's happy to be in school and all of that. It looks like his work schedule will be closing Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and either opening or closing on Saturdays. His labs are Thursday and Friday and so far we have been able to get everywhere we need to with one car and/or walking. Once it's not 100 degrees every day for a week, I'm sure he'll be much more up to walking or riding his bike. And once I'm working more, he'll be doing the same as well.

Work for me has been ok. The back-to-school rush was...alright. I had one night (a Monday, I believe) were I was the only hostess, so I was running around for 4 hours seating people, busing tables, etc. It's a lot less crazy when there is another hostess or a busboy, so that made the weekend nights tolerable. I'm hoping to get more hours soon, but there have been a bunch of new hires, so scheduling is up in the air. But everyone is really nice and fun to work with. And I'm getting the hang of almost everything, so I'm feeling pretty confident. We found me a clear, thin nose ring I can use on the days I work, so I don't have to put a band-aid over the piercing or take it out. Since it's been so sensitive to change, I'd rather have something in the hole than not, and no one has said a thing about the new clear one. So that's good.

Yes, it's been about 100 degrees every day for the past week and a half. We finally got a break last night we a major thunderstorm, but it didn't rain as much as we hoped. This has been the only week where I've seriously considered air conditioning, because the two fans have been going almost non-stop and it's been just miserable. It's supposed to cool off in the next few days, but it has been rough the last week or so. We are super ready for fall already!

That's been our life for the past few weeks. We're doing alright with the school adjustment, I'm trying my best to not be a nag about Zak and his homework, but he has a good work ethic and gets what he needs to done. Zak's birthday is in a few weeks, we are getting ready for that. I'm just trying to finalize on a gift idea for him, he is a very practical guy who doesn't want or need a lot of things, so I get to be creative with my presents for him. Unfortunately, his birthday is on a Thursday, and he has a late lab that night (7-9:50), but we'll try to make it a good day for him.

I came home from a really exhausting day at work to these beautiful flowers from Zak!

I'm not really a huge fan of dyed/weird color daises, but this arrangement was really beautiful and cheered me up! Plus, those big orange flowers that I don't know the name of? Gorgeous, they're my new favorites! I love the color gradient

We had our friends, Chad & Bryan over for dinner and I thought it was so cute that the silly dollar store place mats I got matched the flowers!

Camping Inside & Rachel gets a Job

A few weeks ago, we talked about going camping for the few days Zak had off of work. But then we decided to just camp inside because there was a thunderstorm. It was fun; we moved the furniture and set up the tent and got all the blankets out. But then around 2 AM we woke up and decided that the air mattress wasn't super comfortable and went upstairs to our comfy bed.

I got a job! Two weeks ago, Zak was talking to the manager of the pizza place in the mall (Smoky Mountain Pizzeria Grill), who mentioned they were looking for some new people. The next day Zak & I went in and filled out an application, and when I turned it into the manager, he said he'd call me later about setting up a time to do paperwork, and that I'd be the hostess, starting off at part-time for the moment. It was so sudden and almost difficult to believe, but there it was! So a few days later I went in and filled out all the papers and talked to him about the job. So far I'm working part-time as a hostess, and most likely getting full-time soon (Rush for the colleges starts next week, the week after both universities start back up, so I'll be working a lot more), and eventually will be a server. I'm a bit nervous about being a server, but I'm glad that, so far, my job is pretty easy at the moment. I basically stand around, look pretty, seat customers and help bus tables or roll silverware, tidy up if it needs to be done. My only complaint is that I have to wear a black polo and tan pants, yuck. And I have to cover up my nose ring. I put my diamond stud back in, and just cover it up with a band-aid for the few hours I work.

It's nice to be back in the mall and close to Zak, scheduling will be easier with both of us working there. And everyone I've met so far is really helpful and nice and easy to get along with. And they've been patient with me, not only because I'm new, but I'm also new to the food service industry. So I'm not complaining, because a job is a job. I'm still going to see if maybe I can find another part-time job in the future.

Other than that, our gladiolus bulbs I got from Wal-Mart and planted in May are finally flowering! I planted them on a whim, not expecting too much, but lo and behold, most of them grew up nicely! We've had some pretty pink ones, as well as purple, and right now there is a new yellow one and a beautiful white one. I'm happy! But in other garden news, our vegetables really aren't doing well. This summer was weird, we had cold snaps and then heat waves, so maybe next year we'll stick to all flowers.

Coming up on the next blog entry: our anniversary in Seattle! Keep on the look-out for it!