If I could write my own job description... It would be awesome

It's a funny thing, really, when you think about your job. What it is you ACTUALLY do vs what you were HIRED to do. I often wonder would I have even applied for my job had I known exactly what all it entailed.

Thinking...

Thinking...

Thinking...

Yeah, I probably would still have applied. I was that desperate back then.

In hindsight, which IMO is the best sight to have, the job hasn't been that bad. I've learned a lot, I've grown somewhat of a backbone, I've learned not to let little things get me down. But, just in case there is something better just around the bend *coughNewYorkcough* I've decided to create a more accurate job description for the person who one day takes my place

Event Coordinator Job Description

Office Equipment Repairperson/Guru - The Event Coordinator is required to know all facets of the office equipment, including but not limited to Fax Machine, Copier, Laminator, Scanner, etc. Should the Event Coordinator for some reason not know the reason behind malfunctioning equipment, whether due to overusage or ignorant employees who don't know how to use said equipment, he or she must figure out how to fix said equipment so ignorant employee can continue with their job.

Information Specialist - The Event Coordinator must be familiar with all internet websites that may contain any information others may need at any given time. He or she must always be able to find answers to a variety of questions, including football/commencement/academic/Prince William's schedules; phone numbers to clients who had an event that one time three years ago; and why Vanderbilt is the Commodores.

Psychic Medium - Must be able to see into the future and forsee all needs and wants of anyone at any given time. Whether they are a client or not. This may also include knowing what type of salad Nick Saban enjoys.


Historian - Ability to keep impeccable records of all events dating to before Event Coordinator graduated from high school. Prefer person who is able to recall dates at the drop of a hat and provide facts regarding said dates.


Therapist/Psychologist - Provide free services for customers and co-workers with various problems and disorders. These may range from "my boss just told me we need cookies for this afternoon," and "but only 8 of my 10 guests showed up and I don't want to pay for 10" to "my husband pissed me off this morning so I'm going to take it out on you." Therapist license preferred but not required.

Detective - Ability to research and provide facts from mulitple months or years prior, including what type of spice was used on that thing with the brown stuff on top that was served at the event that was back in 2007 or 2004 when that man with the grey toupe sat at the third or fourth table and ordered a glass of water.

Miracle Worker - At any given time miracles must be performed. These are not limited to Annie Sullivan miracles but may also include miracles of the Biblical kind.

Yes, yes you can add water at the last minute! W-A-T-E-R!

Sound like an interesting job? No? You're right... it's actually not. Except for the miracle working part. That's pretty awesome.

7 Favorite Harry Potter Moments #5, #6 and #7

Today's the day. The day it all ends. The final Harry Potter movie is officially out in theaters and in a few hours my sister and I will be sitting in our awesome D-Box seats waiting to watch our three favorite wizards try to destroy He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Today will prove to be a very non-productive day... as if any of my days really are!

#5 - That moment of "huh?" that I had after watching HP:OOTP
Yeah, I know that doesn't sound like a very memorable moment on the surface, but trust me, it was. After watching Order of the Phoenix I remember leaving the theater thinking "okay, I am TOTALLY lost here." So I decided to finally read the books. I was unable to put them down. As I am a super-reader, I'm pretty sure I went through books 1-6 in like a week. So thanks whoever wrote, directed, produced, whatever the 5th installment. I owe you one!



#6 - That time Hermione grasped Ron's hand
Who DIDN'T squeal when this happened? Okay... maybe no one did. Maybe I didn't either. But it seriously was cute.


#7 - Tie between waiting for the Inferi to grab Harry's hand and waiting for my sister's shock when Snape killed Dumbledore, both in the Half-Blood Prince
This is probably one of the drawbacks to reading a book before seeing the movie based off it. You know what's going to happen before it happens. Of course, when you know it's going to happen and it's something that you know is going to startle you, that does make it even more exciting. When we were watching HP:HBP I remember sitting in suspense, waiting for that deathly hand to pop out of the water and grab Harry. And then it did! Yikes!


The next thing I was really looking forward to was Snape killing Dumbledore. Unfortunately when I was reading the books I read something about how Dumbledore had been killed, so I knew it was coming. However, I didn't know Snape had done it and it was a very definite "whoa!" moment. So I knew that in the movie this scene was going to be very similar for my sister. I kept glancing over at her during this whole scene to get her reaction. Boy was she surprised!


Whew, at least she didn't act like this!


So there it is... my 7 favorite Harry Potter moments. And so as to not leave on a sad ending, here are two of my favorite Harry Potter videos.

Is there such thing as a 1/3-life crisis?

I'm pretty sure there comes a point in everyone's life where they stop and think "Is this really my life?" Maybe it comes earlier in life, fresh out of college, sitting in your parents' living room in your pajamas watching Sabrina the Teenage Witch at 1:00 in the afternoon while eating a bowl of cereal out of a big cup because you just woke up 20 minutes ago. Maybe it comes later in life, while you're sitting at your kid's soccer game and watching him kick the ball into the other team's goal and forcing yourself to clap for your semi-special little man who just lost the team the game.

Or, if you're like me, maybe it hits you every time you take a shower. Or go to bed. Or wake up. Or sit at your desk at work pecking away on your blog.

I just finished reading a post on HelloGiggles (one of my favorite new sites, check it out if you haven't already!) entitled "Being a Professional Adult." In this post the writer listed ways she would know when she was an adult and I really found myself agreeing with her on most things. She wrote about when she bought her first winter coat how she felt everyone would know she was an adult. I think I go through that a lot to. Not with coats, mind you, because I have a mild obsession with them and have a different one for every day of the week, plus a few extra for costume changes mid-day. But there are times (rare times) when I actually put effort into getting dressed and think "I'm wearing heels! My hair isn't in a ponytail! I'm not wearing sweats! Look at me! I'm a grown up!"

Of course, I pretty much cancel out all grown-upness out when I get home, kick off my heels, pull my hair up, put on some sweats and turn on Wizards of Waverly Place.


Lately I've been looking at my life and thinking "Is this really my life?" You hear all the time about the existential woes of the twenty-something, scraping by on a meager salary, eating Spaghetti-O's for dinner, having massive credit card debt due to shopping too much... It's kind of funny, always good for a laugh or a quirky rom-com. But in real life, not so funny. And somehow, in the past year, this has become my life. Minus the credit card debt. Yay me.

Now, I've never felt like I was the girl who always "had it together" but I've also never felt like an incredible train wreck. There's really no point in searching for the "how" or the "why" - such as I took a job that was incredibly low-paying and in Tuscaloosa in hopes that it would lead to a better job. Pshh...
Now that I've gotten all my Negative Nancy out, maybe I should focus on how to combat said train wreck and get myself back on course.

Set goals - I would like to move somewhere new by 2012. (NYC please!)
Manage money better - Prepare budget and stick to it. Cut excessive crap spending.
Clean apartment - No explanation necessary
De-clutter my life - Do I really need 9 coats? In Alabama? (yes... yes I do)
Make goals happen

Will these things make me feel better about my life? I have no idea. Maybe they will, maybe they won't. But maybe they'll let me stop eating Spaghetti-O's. They're honestly pretty disgusting.

7 Favorite Harry Potter Moments #3 and #4

My friend Emilie went to the NYC premiere of Harry Potter last night and I'm fairly certain my skin is slightly tinged green with envy. But no matter... only 4 days until I get to see it!
I thought it would be fun to have some HP-themed snacks for my sister and me to enjoy before we go see the movie so the first thing that came to mind was Bertie Bott's Every Flavored Beans. Let me tell you... this was like trying to find a needle in a haystack! I still haven't found them... so we may not get to feast on "chocolate and peppermint, and... also spinach, liver, and tripe." However, after work today, the search will resume!


And now for more of my favorite HP moments!

#3 - The hotness of the Weasley twins
Who would have ever thought that two gangly gingers would turn out to be so hot? Not me, that's for sure!



#4 - Any scene that Helena Bonham Carter is in
I don't really remember much about Bellatrix Lestrange from the books, mainly because re-reading them I haven't gotten that far (I'm still working on GoF). But I do know that casting HBC as Bellatrix was a total WIN. The first time we were introduced to her was like whoa... she's one crazy you know what.

7 Favorite Harry Potter Moments #1 and #2

With almost a 10 year age difference between my sister and me there really are very few things we've shared over the years. But when our mom forced me to take her to the movies 10 years ago to see Harry Potter and the Sorcer's Stone, who knew that would be the start of something special?

Danielle and I have gone to see every Harry Potter movie together over the years and, in 5 days, it will all be over. So, rather than get all weepy now, I wanted to discuss my favorite moments over the past 10 years. And, in keeping with Harry Potter, I've decided to list my favorite 7.

#1 - The midnight premiere of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
By this movie our sisterly tradition of going to see Harry Potter had really taken root and we both were excited about it so we decided to go to the midnight premiere. This would also be the LAST midnight premiere of Harry Potter that we would go to. Danielle fell asleep during it. I was constantly having to wake her up. She thought it was boring. I still tease her about not being able to handle staying up late.

#2 - Harry Potter costume = fail
I thought it would be funny to dress up in a Harry Potter costume before going to the movies to see what my sister would say. So I put on my old black graduation robe, a scarf and my glasses and went to sit in the living room to wait on her. My mom laughed but when Danielle walked in, she took one look at me and said "Okay, are you ready to go?" Apparently she didn't think it was funny...

Summer Reading

A few weeks ago I decided to tap into my inner school-girl and give myself summer reading assignments. I created a not-so-short summer reading list that I figured would last me 3 months. Of course, being the Speedy Gonzales of reading, I realized I'd probably zip through that list in 3 weeks rather than months. Seriously, I read like it's going out of style.
Anywho... I'm SO glad I made this list. Although I haven't gotten very far in it - considering I keep adding books to it rather than reading the ones already listed - I have come across some absolutely fabulous reads and wanted to write down my thoughts of them.

Hunger Games Trilogy - OMG... I NEVER thought this would be something I liked and OMG was I wrong! OMG. haha. While I love reading, it generally takes a lot to really get me invested a book and let it become a part of me. These three books totally did that after only a few chapters. I found myself wanting to kick Katniss and hug her at the same time. I fell in love with Peeta even before she did and threatened to throw the book across the room if she ended up with Gale. I wanted to kill... Okay, you see my investment here?

The Sky is Everywhere - I'm not really a crier when it comes to books. In fact, there really aren't many I remember crying over. And I don't mean tearing up. I mean, CRYING. Curling up in the bed and soaking your pillow crying, hating the book and the writer for making you cry but wanting to go on because you owe it to the character to hear her story. Yup... this book is the culprit for making me cry. The plot is pretty simple: girl's older sister dies unexpectedly and she deals with the aftermath. Already that's sad! Add to it that the girl's mom ran off when she was little, she's making out with her sister's boyfriend and the new guy in town is in love with her but dumps her because she's making out with her sister's boyfriend and whoa... emotional roller coaster for me! Oh, and did I mention all the poetry she writes about her dead sister at the beginning of every chapter? I know this sounds like a terrible book, but trust me when I say all the crying was well worth the read.

Starcrossed - I was SO excited when I finally got this book! I had been waiting weeks to read it and it was so worth the wait! I was still in love days after finishing the last page. I wanted to read it again and again the second I closed the cover - in fact, I did go back and re-read some parts. Just to make myself happy. The story follows Helen, a girl who doesn't quite fit in, who finds out just why she doesn't fit quite in: she's the child of a demi-god. And there are others out there, just like her. Including Lucas, the dreamy guy who just moved to town. But when they find out that they are reincarnations of Helen of Troy and Paris, they realize they cannote be together or risk starting another Trojan War. Ohhh.... this book was so good! Only downside... the sequel doesn't come out until next YEAR! Ugh!!! This is why I don't get into series at the beginning; I HATE WAITING!!!

There have been several others I've read so far this summer, but these are the ones I've loved best so far. It's gonna take a lot to top them! Happy Summer to all!

A Trip Down Memory Lane

I'll be the first to admit it: I have a LOT of pet peeves. People leaving the copy machine up. People taking my pens at work. My sister singing in the back seat of the car. The list could go on and on. Today's pet peeve comes from a blog post I read earlier written by a 23-year old woman about how she loves the 80s and it was her favorite decade and she wishes she could go back in time and be 23 in the 80s. Now, maybe I get what she means. Perhaps the 80s were awesome. Perhaps it really was a good time to live. I mean, I enjoyed it. But I was a kid. I think I would have enjoyed any decade. This girl, however, was maybe 3 at the end of the decade. THREE! I suppose I just don't understand this kind of nostalgia. I mean, when I get nostalgic for a past time in my life, it isn't nostalgia for stereotypes of that era. I'm not nostalgic for big crimpy hair, jean mini-skirts and bangles up to my elbows. I'm not nostalgic for dancing around in the mall or going to see whatever John Hughes came out with this week. I was a KID! I didn't do these things, I didn't wear these things and I don't remember these things. AND NEITHER DID YOU 23 YEAR OLD WOMAN!!!

That being said, I am getting slightly nostalgic for the 80s. Here are some things that made up my childhood that I suddenly miss:

Alvin and the Chipmunks - This was my absolute favorite! Although, for some reason, whenever the theme song came on I would apparently hide. No idea why.


Crest Sparkle Toothpast - Weird, right? But who didn't love sparkly blue toothpaste that tasted like bubblegum? And it was star-shaped at one point!



My Little Ponies, Care Bears, Strawberry Shortcake, Pound Puppies/Pound Kitties... these were my toys in the 80s! We really did have cool toys back then. I'm pretty sure I had most of the toys on this site: http://www.liketotally80s.com/80s-toys.html

One of my favorite toys on this list was the My Child Doll. I had one... I named her Maria and she wore a lot of my old baby clothes. She now lives in the attic. Naked. Ah, Maria!

Dirty Dancing - Yes, I know this is NOT an appropriate movie for children, even now. And no, I don't really remember actually seeing the entire thing. Just the ending. "Nobody puts Baby in a corner." Then the awesome dance. Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey singing "I've had the Time of My Life." Baby's really awesome dress from the 80s. My mom telling my dad that was the kind of moment all women want. Ahh...


Sunday Braids and Ponytails - I'm pretty certain we were the only family that called this hairstyle "Sunday Braids" and "Sunday Ponytails" but that's what they were. (PS after googling Sunday Braid, I found out that it's a type of boot)


Jellies!!! - I LOVE LOVE LOVE these shoes! They were oh so cute. Only downside... little rocks would get stuck in the bottom of them. But who didn't love pulling them out?!










So that does it for my little trip down memory lane. I'm sure I can think of a million more things, but those are just the ones that popped into my head while I was bored at work and writing this.