Job hunting is a full time job!

Well,

Yesterday marked my first "real interview"...well, kind of-haha.

I went to a skilled nursing facility associated with a major hospital in Pensacola for a "peer interview" yesterday. However, the facility is down on therapists and a permanent occupational therapist (they have a few contract therapists as well) who was supposed to be a part of the peer interview was stuck in South Florida from a weekend flight. The rehab director asked if I could come back on Wednesday for the "peer interview".

Needless to say, I was able to meet with the rehabilitation director (the person I had a telephone interview with) and I went for a tour of the facility. I also stayed for a holiday lunch provided by one of the physical therapists to mix and mingle (as many of the therapists at the lunch would be the ones in my peer interview on Wednesday). I was disappointed about the interview being postponed, however, it seemed like a positive experience overall and I hope I left a great impression :).

This morning I met with an employment "person" (don't remember his official title) at the Fleet and Family Support Center on base. I mainly met with him to discuss how I might get an "in" with health care jobs related to the federal government (I had applied to an open OT position at the VA in October but have not heard about my application and there is no way for me to contact the facility directly). Anyways, this gentleman was incredibly helpful and kind in helping me understand how to apply for a job with the federal government (i.e. doing exactly the opposite of what I assumed- I had assumed being concise and brief would be preferred). He gave me several websites to post a "profile" on and many tips on how to rearrange my resume for this type of job. Last but certainly not least, he had a contact at the VA and was able to call the department I was applying to and left a message with one of the therapists to have the supervisor call him back. I was so thankful for the help only he was able to provide (as it would not have been preferred for me to try to contact these people directly). I am hoping to hear back from this man regarding what might be some useful steps for how to get an "in", etc etc. While I may not get a job with the federal government at this duty station, it is a long application process and it can only help to do these things now. This summer the President introduced a new legislation that gives military spouses priority for jobs with the federal government, however, the man I spoke with said it might take awhile for everyone to get on the same page.

So, I have a few things boiling in my pot and I am hoping for a great opportunity! It is a funny time of year being that I am initiating these things and then Josh and I will leave for CT, but I'm sure it will all work out.

Now I am off to rework all of my applications, try to recover our missing household goods, change my health care insurance provider, and maybe, just maybe I'll get some studying in!

All Unpacked!

Here are some pictures of our new home all unpacked and decorated for the most part ;)

View of living room from the front door

View of living room from dining room

View of living room from kitchen

View of living room from backyard door

View of kitchen from living room

View of kitchen from dining room

View of dining room from kitchen

view of dining room from living room

view of dining room from kitchen

view of hallway to bedrooms/bathrooms

View of guest bathroom

View of guest bathroom

View of office (on the left of the hallway)

View of office into hallway

View of bedroom (right from the hallway)

Another view of bedroom

View of bedroom into bathroom

Master bath

Master bath

Guest room/childhood memories room

Guest room (no bed but you can believe the closet space is being used!)

Garage

Backyard (I believe this bush in the center will turn pinkish/red). Josh already has plans for some sort of golf net, haha.

Tree in backyard

View of house from backyard


Well that's all for now!...Now onto studying for my boards!

Culture Shock Can Be Good

(A picture of the house in daylight)

(down our street)

Well, something I might have left out of the last post is that after a very long drive, and having seen glimpses of our new hometown (for now), we got back to the Navy Lodge and I let out a long cry. Josh and I have been through a lot of changes in the last 6 months (he finished school, we got married, we moved to Baltimore, I finished school, I've been looking for a job and studying for my exam, and now we've moved again)- strangely though, I haven't felt that affected by all of those changes, but the culture shock of Pensacola did me in I guess!

It seems a good cry was all I needed though and now we are loving where we live. I suppose I just needed to get my bearings and feel like I had a small idea of where things were located.

Although we have experienced quite a culture shock, thanks to my wonderful husband, we are taking it like he took his Plebe summer/boot camp (as if it were summer camp!)

Our eyes are in the infancy stage of opening to a whole new world- that isn't necessarily bad, just different.

Josh and I went to a Waffle House (they are hard to avoid) and took a picture for Mom Gropp (she's not a fan of the food). Everyone in the restaurant (including some customers) said hello to us several times. We then sat down and had a pretty tasty breakfast sandwich and didn't say a word while we ate so we could listen to the gossip- haha. The big gossip on the street at this Waffle House was that the manager decided to stop carrying Splenda packets because they were too expensive! Now the customers go to the Walmart and bring their own in. I mean, really, why carry Splenda if you won't lose customers?!

(at Waffle House)

Until last night we hadn't had a home-cooked meal because, well, nothing was unpacked and we had no food! Although we are thrilled to begin cooking again (last night was our first dinner here), we've had some interesting choices in meals. My favorite has been going to Sonic. It's fast food (which is the only kind of food you can get when you eat out for the most part), but it's a "drive in". Josh and I showed up and thought the drive in signs were just for fun so we walked to the front door of the place and they looked at us as if we were aliens and said to go back to our car to order and that they would bring our food to us. We thought that was pretty cool in and of itself, but it only got better when our "waitress" (for a lack of better words) delivered our food on rollerskates!!!! It was pretty awesome.

One last story is that we very quickly discovered yesterday not to go to the grocery store/commissary on payday (A friend warned me of this but I guess I didn't really realize it would happen quite like this).

As Josh and I pulled up to the gate to go to the Commissary (Navy grocery store), there was a 30 car line that went out into the highway were were trying to come off of. My friend wasn't kidding! It seemed like the world was about to end and everyone in town was going to stock up so that they could hide in some shelter. I really shouldn't make light of this, as apparently it is a big problem in the Navy (people spending too much money and then living paycheck to paycheck), but it was certainly an eye opener to Josh and I.

We are really having a blast living in a house and being quite removed from city life. Josh had fun out in the driveway washing his wheels and I am having a lot of fun unpacking and decorating the house. We are so thankful for the little things this homeowner put into the house to make it very easy to live in without having to buy lots of extras (e.g. closet organizers for storage, shelves in the garage, a bike rack in the garage, hooks and bars and hangers everywhere, etc etc.) We are also really enjoying not having white walls- it's so warm and cozy.

(Josh cleaning car wheels at sunset)




Mess in guest bedroom


(mess in kitchen- movers have to unpack you if you want them to, but they just place everything on the nearest counter or floor...we still asked them to because we knew dealing with all of those boxes and the packing paper could be a nightmare)

We are really blessed and pray that even when valleys come we would still sing "blessed by the name of the Lord".


(a picture of Perdido Key- the beach area about 10 minutes from our house- Visitors?? Anyone? hehe)

Thanks for sharing in our adventures!

Our 1st camping trip

Josh and I have always wanted to go on a camping trip together once we were married- what we didn't know is that our first camping trip would be in our apartment!

Some may argue that this is not true camping, but it sure feels like it.

Friday morning at 10 am three movers came to pack and box up our stuff. They looked at me like I was crazy that we only had 3500 pounds worth of stuff (they ask you to estimate your shipment weight so they can estimate how long it will take to pack and ship)....well, at the end of the day we ended up having about that weight but they were not too happy about all the "little" things they had to individually wrap. I found it amusing the three things they decided to comment on while packing our belongings (my affinity for turtles, Josh's affinity for golf, and the amount of stuff we managed to fit in our small kitchen).

Josh was able to come home from work for the beginning of the packing and he tried to help them bring packing paper from the elevator and got scolded. I had to sit and supervise the movers all day but I wasn't allowed to touch a thing....pretty boring if I do say so (but somehow I felt as tired at the end of the day as I imagine I might have if I had packed everything up myself).

Well, enough of the boring details. We are very blessed that we did not have to move our belongings ourselves and we hope that it all arrives in one piece when we get to FL. All of our stuff will have to go into storage (as it will arrive before us and we don't have a place lined up to live yet).

We are hoping to have our shipment brought to our new place before the weekend (13th) so that we won't need to stay in a hotel through the weekend.


(Pre-packing madness)

(stuff we set aside to take in our cars)


(lots and lots of boxes...they moved our clothes in boxed wardrobes on hangers...I was fascinated!)


(all of the boxes stacked behind the couch were books...they called before coming to ask if we had a lot of books-I replied no thinking surely most other people had more books than we did...apparently we were wrong...they told me it was a lot of books and I replied, "a lot' is kind of a relative term you know...")


(our couch about to be shrink wrapped- they packed it better than it was packed when we had the couches delivered!)


(supervising with my feet up on the couch, a book in my lap and chips...I felt so guilty I couldn't really read).

(Almost everything packed..I was getting tired...I can only imagine the movers who do this 5 days a week!)

(sure looks like a mess!)

(Josh came home to find the TV and golf clubs still not packed...he got to say his last good-byes before they got wrapped up)



As for our bright idea to stay in our apartment with no stuff rather than staying in a hotel on the Navy...it has been interesting to say the least....much like a camping trip. After the movers left (at 7pm- after 9 hours of packing) we realized that we only had lights in our kitchen and bathroom....whoops! We have been having fun though....

sharing a cereal bowl...going to dunkin donuts...

sleeping on an air mattress



doing somersaults...



looking at the eclectic things we will be moving in the cars ourselves (the moving company can't move liquids that are opened, lightbulbs, batteries, chemicals, ammo, and maybe some other things too)...

Well, we leave tomorrow for Philadelphia so that I can't present my Master's research project and then we will be on our way!

Hope this finds you all well. Looking forward to seeing many of you for the holidays!

T Minus 24 Days!

Yep, that's right, we will be moving from the lovely city of Baltimore (except for not) to the Sunshine state in 24 days! Between now and then there is lots to be done! I won't stress you out with the list- it stresses me out thinking about it!

While there are many disadvantages to moving, we will be trying to focus on the advantages.

For example:

making a point to know where your birth certificate is (or isn't) every once in awhile
or
Figuring out what was so smelly in the refrigerator all that time (when you are required to clean out the bottom drawer!)
or
weeding through the many, many, many things that you will just never use again (Dad, I knew you'd be proud ;))

Really, though, we are looking forward to beginning this new adventure- Josh is anxious to begin his career as a Naval Flight Officer, I am anxious to finally start my career in occupational therapy, and Edgar, well, as long as green beans are involved, there's simply no need for anxiety!

Vacationland

Josh and I just got back from a quick, but wonderful weekend in Vacationland-Maine!.

We arrived in Portland on Thursday night (where his brother Matt lives) and hung around Portland until Matt was done with work Friday. Ironically we even fit in a lunch date with Mom G (as she was picking up her new Kayak in Freeport, ME that day).

Josh and I got a chance to see the base that Matt works at in Brunswick, ME Friday afternoon and met a few of his friends from his squadron as well.

After spending a few hours in Brunswick we made our way to Belfast, ME where Josh's Aunt Melinda and Uncle Daniel live. It was a mini reunion there, as Mom A and Gramma were also in Maine visiting!

The food was DELICIOUS as always and the company even better!


Here is a picture of a P-3 (the plane that Matt flies). Matt just got back from El Salvador where he and several members of his squadron made great progress in keeping drugs out of our country and others.

Spending time relaxing, reading, and looking up cars on the computer


It didn't take long for one of their friendly cats (Megan) to make herself comfy on our suitcase :)

Brotherly love...looking up dream cars together


Mom A and I (reading and studying)

After dinner shenanigans (pseudo swing dancing)




Who knows?

Uncle Daniel in the Kitchen


Uncle Daniel initiated dancing with Aunt Melinda after dinner and then we all took turns- he is quite the dancer if I do say so!

Gramma just couldn't keep her feet from dancing and taught Josh a few moves :)


Here is a video of Josh and Matt doing a "swing dancing" move....they should be gymnasts!

Thanks for visiting!