Hello again, everyone! Life this summer has been extremely chaotic for me, so, I’m going to apologize again for not posting recently! In this post, I’m going to recap my summer events, from July 4th – today (August 17, 2019). I realize that I last posted in June; however, nothing very interesting happened for the rest of June, other than working that 9-5! The CRAZINESS… started back in July. So, sit back, grab a beverage, popcorn, a snack (whatever you want, really!), because it’s going to be a WILD RIDE! HERE we go!
July 4th was very low-key for me this year, as I had to work the next day (Friday, July 5th), and Tyler was already gone to Grandfather Mountain for the Highland Games. I wound up celebrating the holiday with some of our mutual friends, and we did pizza and fireworks with the kids… like I said, very low-key, but was honestly a really great time!
On Friday (July 5th), I requested to get off work early so that I could drive the 6.5 hours back up to North Carolina for the Highland Games. Thankfully, there weren’t many kids at the preschool, and I was able to leave about 30 minutes after I came in!
I had already planned to use Saturday (July 6th) to celebrate a “late Mother’s Day” with mom, as I had bought her Zip lining tickets. That Saturday, we drove to the zip lining place, and everything was going great… UNTIL there was a threat of a severe thunderstorm, which required us to get off the lines. So, we only got to do the practice zip line and walk the rope bridge (super scary, btw). However, the company that I booked with offered us a rain check, so hopefully mom and I will be back to do the entire course sometime this fall!
I drove up to the Highland Games on Sunday, July 7th. I wound up paying for a camping spot on the MacRowdy side, because Tyler’s tent broke at the last minute before the Games, and he wanted a place to be more separated from his dad’s campsite. Tyler and I got my tent BASICALLY set up (it wasn’t staked down, we didn’t have the tarps up), but the first two nights, we slept on the ground, because I forgot the pump for my air mattress! Thankfully, one of our mutual friends came through and lent us a pump so that our backs could get relief from sleeping on the rocks and the solid, unforgiving mountain ground!
I was having a FANTASTIC time, visiting with friends old and new until I got an e-mail from my boss on… let’s say Wednesday… of the Highland Games, telling me that I basically had until August 9th to find another job, because she was not going to hire me full-time for the upcoming school year. When I first got the e-mail, I was COMPLETELY and utterly depressed. However, after much reflection and sleeping on it a LOT (I didn’t get out of bed for the rest of that day), I was able to turn a negative into a positive… I told myself things like, “Everything happens for a reason, Kristin,” and, “This is God’s opportunity to show you that you need to go in a completely different direction with your life.” So, for the remainder of the Highland Games, I continued to debate whether I was going to work until August 9th or whether I was going to put in my two week’s notice when I got back from the Games. I chose the latter, and I have NOT been more happy.
I worked my two week’s notice starting on July 15th and ending on July 26th. As I was working my notice, obviously, I was looking for jobs, but nothing promising had really come up. I went to celebrate dad’s birthday and a late Father’s Day on July 20. We went to see the movie “Yesterday,” (a movie about the Beatles), had pizza and cake with family at his house, and I took him to TopGolf on Sunday.
The next week (my final week of work), one of my friends texted me about going to NightBEAT the following weekend. I definitely thought a lot about not going, because I had JUST been to North Carolina the weekend before, and I knew that my income was obviously about to cease. However, that same day, Tyler and I got into a HUGE argument, we broke up (AGAIN – surprise, surprise!), and I thought to myself, “Normally when I go up to NC, I ONLY get to visit with family, and all of my friends ALWAYS ask me, ‘When are you coming back up?! I want to see you!'” So, I decided, right then and there, to NOT ONLY go up to North Carolina for NightBEAT, but also to visit ALL of my friends that I haven’t had the opportunity to see recently!
The first week I had no work obligations was July 28th – August 2nd. In that week, I went to see NightBEAT on Sunday with my friend Cedric, went to Shelby on Monday to visit with my grandparents to chill out, Tuesday I went to dinner with my friend Sharon, who I worked with at Belk’s, Wednesday I drove down to SC to see Janet, one of my good friends from the mountain, and Thursday – Saturday I visited my best friend from college, Jordan, and got to meet her son Declan who was born last December, and see her new house! …It was definitely a whirlwind trip, but I had SO MUCH FUN!
When I got back home to FL (the week of August 5th – 9th), of course I hit the job search hard again. I’ve had a little bit of luck since then, but nothing serious has come of anything. I decided to use that week to GET ORGANIZED… My room and my bathroom, specifically. I believe I said this in an earlier post, but I feel like I never got the opportunity to “settle in,” to my apartment, so I took the week to do just that! I bought two organizer shelves from Wal-Mart, built them BOTH, and organized everything into them. I had a conversation with Grace that week about how stressed she was about school starting again, and I told her, “I love you… but I am SO GLAD I do NOT have to do that ever again!”
BUUUUT, as Murphy’s Law would have it (you know, when things CAN go wrong, they will?)… last week, I found out that I needed an oil change (because I LITERALLY had NO OIL left in the reservoir), and obviously, I needed a tire rotation because I had been traveling so much the previous week. I did get SOME oil put in the car, but I never officially got it changed. I got my tires balanced and rotated, no problem. However, at the beginning of this past week… something starts to go seriously wrong with my car. *insert MAJOR eye-roll here*
So, at the beginning of this past week, I get my car checked on, and figure out that it is the fifth cylinder, but it could be a host of other things, because the gauge was “lit up like a Christmas tree.” GREAT. I’m not going to lie, I took the car to Tyler because he has ALWAYS helped me with getting my car situated. He ordered the parts for the fifth cylinder on Monday, and they were supposed to get to his house on Friday. They got there on Thursday, but I messed around for too long on Friday and didn’t get it to the shop in time. All of this, ON TOP OF not having a job right now, and trying SO DESPERATELY to apply as much as I can. However, I am happy to say that I have an interview on Monday at 10:00a.m. for a position at a local YMCA down here! *Crosses fingers*
Yesterday was NOT GREAT, AT ALL. However, Grace and I went to eat at Texas Roadhouse last night to celebrate the end of HER first week of school, and to help pick me up from feeling depressed. And that brings me to today… I have had a VERY chill day. I haven’t left the apartment at all, really, because it has been rainy, and my car is in desperate need of repair. I’ve pretty much been working on my blog all day, trying to “play,” with it and get it set up how I want with this new layout (btw, what do you guys think?!). Grace and I have already agreed to go to church tomorrow (I haven’t been in FOREVER), so that should be a good way to start my week next week! I also rented a car for tomorrow, throughout the rest of next week, so that I can get to my interview safely on Monday, and so that I won’t be stranded if I need to go anywhere else next week.
So, this summer has been chaotic to say the least, but it has definitely been a pretty GOOD ONE. I’ve definitely had ups and downs, but… that’s just part of life! I have enjoyed the opportunity to get more settled in my apartment, and it has been WONDERFUL to just SLOW DOWN a little bit and breathe, but I’m not going to lie, I AM READY to get a serious job… I’m getting a little anxious at this point. And, I know, I need to trust the Lord, and pray about it, and I realize that ultimately He will provide for me when the time is right, but I’m doing EVERYTHING that I can do, and it seems as though my efforts aren’t really getting me anywhere as of late. HOWEVER, I’m NOT going to sit here and be negative, because negativity breeds more negativity, and I need to maintain the light and positivity in my life to push through, persevere, and move forward in the next chapter of my story!
So, with all of this being said, I have now reached the end of my summer journey with you. I hope you have enjoyed reading my chronicles, and I will certainly be back soon! …I have some ideas on how to “spruce up,” my blog, so, you’ll just have to come back and see me! …I hope YOU ALL have been doing well in the meantime, and I again, I hope to see you all back here for my next post!
Ciao, for now!
}-}—>Kristin<—{-{
Adventures of a 20-something 