Finish This: Career Edition

1. I celebrated Labor Day by...
Avoiding the beaches, staying in town, crossing a few things off our home to-do list, exploring the Griffith Observatory, a trip to the bookstore (whoever decided to combine cars + books by putting wheels on a book is genius. Wish I'd thought of that!), and spending time outdoors with Ez. You can read more here and here.

2. My dream job/career would be...
Book editor and/or reviewer would be pretty high up there. Author. I've always liked the idea of being a researcher and sitting in a dark, quiet library reading all day. Pretty much any job that involves reading all day would be ideal.

3. My first paying job was...
McDonalds. Just like my mom! I applied at so many places and would've rather worked anywhere, but none of those places called me back, and McDonalds hired me on the spot. I worked there for over a year, and it was my only high school job (other than babysitting my brothers). Honestly, it wasn't so bad. I liked my coworkers, which makes all the difference in any job. It definitely wasn't the worst job I've ever had.

4. My current job is...
Stay at home mom to Ez. I think all you mamas know what that entails, but here's a brief summary. Having a constant cuddle buddy/side kick. Waking up at all hours of the night. Park dates. Reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear nine hundred (thousand) times a day. Cleaning up the same mess on repeat. Chasing a ball around the yard. Kissing boo boos. Playing cars. Carrying snacks with me at all times. Deciphering what jibberish + pointing means. Fishing toys out of toilets:

It's been awhile since I've done a Finish This post. Love this series though! It's always fun to read other bloggers answers to these random prompts. Head over to Nicole, Becky, Jen, and Lisa's blogs to check out all the other posts.

Finish This + Random Shots of the Week

Today I'm linking up with Nicole at Three31, Jen at Arizona Russums, Becky at the Java Mama, and Lisa at Coastlined to share some random facts about me:

1. I have a quarter to use a pay phone, I call...
This makes me realize I need to memorize more phone numbers. If I had to call anyone from a pay phone, I'm sure I'd want to call Joe, but it might take me two or three tries to get his correct number...

2. I found $25 in my pocket, I buy...
Sadly, the first things I can think of that I need/want to spend money on are an oil change and a car wash. It's kinda boring, but after all the crappy cars I've owned through the years, a running one really is a luxury.

3. I have 25 minutes to watch anything on TV, I turn on...
Anything on my TV, or on a TV with good channels? Right now I like Bachelorette or So You Think You Can Dance. I'd want to watch the last 25 minutes of Bachelorette though, so I can see the rose ceremony. If we weren't already caught up on our shows, I'd want to watch Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, or House of Cards.

4. A meal I can prepare, from start to finish, in 25 minutes is...
Breakfast for dinner: veggies omelets + toast and fruit. Actually, I eat this for lunch a lot, and it probably takes more like 10 minutes to make.

5. At the age of 25, I wish I'd known...
I wish I'd known that you should just go for jobs or opportunities that you aren't necessarily qualified for. When I was unemployed and job searching, I passed over a lot of jobs that I would've really liked because I didn't have all the experience or qualifications they were looking for. The only jobs I was qualified for right out of college were retail or administrative assistant positions. I had to practically beg for my first marketing job, which turned out to be awful, but I'm glad I did because I learned a lot of useful skills that led to my next job.

6. If I drove 25 miles due East from my home, I'd be in...
Rancho Cucamonga, which is where I lived for a few months back in 2011. At the time I was renting a room in a friend's house and commuting about three hours a day. A lot has changed since then...

Some random shots from our week:

Ezzy's first taste of lime. Despite the face, he went back for seconds, thirds, and fourths.

Exploring at PCC

Ezzy was obsessed with this stream.

He kept running back and forth along the stream to examine the water.

Dinner at Green Street.

After dinner walk with Grandma.

Finish This: Family + Great vs. Good

Today I'm linking up with Nicole at Three 31, Jen at Arizona Russums, Becky at The Java Mama, and Lisa at Coastlined to share some random facts about me:

1. I could spend all day...
outdoors exploring with Joe and Ez. Seeing the world through Ezzy's eyes makes everything seem new and exciting. Also, if I'm in the middle of a good book, I could easily spend all day reading. I just bought The Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks, I hope it's a good one! Anyone read it already?

2. My primary and essential goal in life...
is to raise a close and loving family. I've seen and heard so many stories of families that grow apart or feud for whatever reason. It's startlingly more common than I think it should be. Regardless of distance, I always want our little family to be close and know that we are all each other's biggest supporters.

3. You might be surprised to learn...
that as an English major I never actually read all the books assigned to me in any of my classes. I'm pretty sure that would have been impossible, especially on a 12 week quarter system. Even though I love reading, I don't think I'm a very fast reader, and if I had read everything assigned, I doubt I would have retained much. Instead I picked which books to read, and skimmed the rest so that I could write the required essays. Somehow it worked out for me...

4. My favorite place in the world...
is wherever Joe and Ezzy are. Sorry, I know that's a bit repetitive from #1, (and maybe a lil sickeningly mushy) but it's true! Before Joe, I always thought I was too independent to want to spend all my time with someone. I always needed a lot of alone time. And I definitely never thought it would've worked to live with someone and work together too, I was sure I'd get sick of being around that person. But I've never felt that with Joe. I think it's because I'm completely myself with him, so it's easy. Not to say we never need some time apart, but those times are few and far between.

5. I wish I had known sooner...
gosh...so many things! I wouldn't have settled for feeling "alright" with life, vs. being really happy and in love with life. "The enemy of great is good" really applied to a lot of my 20s. And sometimes things weren't even particularly good, but they were comfortable. If I had known how worthwhile it is to step outside my comfort zone, I would've done it much sooner in life, and I think my 20s would've been much different. But I also tell myself that the timing would've been off, and maybe I never would've met Joe or had Ezzy, so I have no regrets with the way things worked out since they led me to where I am now, which is a very good place :)

Finish this

I came across a fun link up series called Finish This over at Three 31, where bloggers share random details about their lives based on different prompts each week, and I decided to join in this week.

1. My favorite makeup item is... I'm not really a huge makeup person, and a lot of days I don't wear it at all, but when I do I prefer a natural look. The two constant things I've used for the past few years are benefit erase paste and benefit high beam. I've had dark circles under my eyes since elementary school, and a tiny bit of the erase paste covers those up. With the high beam I put a tiny dot at the corners of my cheek bones and under my eyebrows and it makes my skin look nice and dewy. Both these products last me a looong time. Are there any great can't-live-without, east-to-apply items that you'd recommend?

2. The best book I ever read was... This is really hard because a lot of books are my favorite as I'm reading them, but I guess to qualify as the best book I ever read, it would have to be something I want to read more than once. I'm going with Gone With the Wind. I just bought a copy and plan to re-read it this year. It's really long, but it's a fast read. I've also been in the mood to re-watch the movie, but it's hard to carve out three uninterrupted hours now with Ezzy. I'm always on the lookout for new books to read, what are some of your faves?

 3. My favorite TV show is... Ahhh, another hard question! Right now I'm obsessed with House of Cards. But of all time I'd pick Sex and the City or Friends.

4. The most spontaneous thing I've ever done... Getting together with my now-fiance was pretty spontaneous, since the whole relationship progressed really quickly. Much more quickly than I had been used to with past relationships. But when it's right you just know.

5. I prefer Dogs/Cats because... I'm a cat person. I've only been without a cat for about three years of my life. Two of those years were when I lived on campus, and then since last August when James went missing. James cracked me up, he was so entertaining to me. And he was not at all needy, I could leave him alone and go on vacation for a week and just leave a bunch of food and water around the house and he'd be fine. Also, he suited my nomadic lifestyle (we moved 9 times in 9 years together!) much better than I think a dog would have. Obviously, I still miss him. When we are settled with a house of our own we'll get both a dog and a cat, and I'm sure I'll love them both.

6. I met my fiance at... work. He actually interviewed me and hired me. Definitely the best career move I ever made :)