"Working Girl"

I got a job! A real live job! I'm so awesome!

Well, actually it's a paid internship. And it's part-time. But whatever. At least it's not an unpaid internship.

The hospital that didn't hire me offered me an unpaid spot which I thought was great and I would definitely take. But then, I met with the L Agency (not the real name) about doing some freelance work and she mentioned they offered PAID internships and the conversation took a different turn. For the better I must say.

Maybe you  are thinking "Why can't she just get a job? What is wrong with her that no one will hire her?" If only I had a piece of King Cake for every time I thought the same. I would have found that elusive plastic baby for sure by now. But here's the thing. Communications is a really tough field. In 2007, Communications (including Journalism) was the 8th most popular undergraduate degree. The field is saturated with Syracuse and Northwestern journalism grads who thought they'd work for The Times but surprise! Rupert Murdoch is going to ruin that paper. It's vowed to go paper-less by next year anyway.

The point is there are not enough jobs and there are too many people. I googled "hardest jobs to get" and whatdoyouknow "marketing" is not listed? Huh. The author had the nerve to compile a list of truly almost-impossible jobs to get, all hyperbole aside. Astronaut, forest fire inspector, model, president of the United States? Did that last one really need to be included? I'm pretty sure I had no delusions there. Here's the list if you're curious: 11 Hardest Jobs to Get

Next week we are off the Austin and Dallas for a few days. And then I start. I wonder how I'll do in an office environment again. I'll be like "I usually take a nap with my dog right about now. Is it okay if I turn on 'Real Housewives'?"

Football season is so long!

. . . When you're a Steelers fan!
I made the right choice to attend the league party. My fellow member's home was beautiful. You might imagine cathedral ceilings, windows you can walk through, marble counter tops, window treatments that my mother would kill for . . . and you'd be right! But better than the decor was the conversation.

Most of the new ladies to the New Orleans junior league are from somewhere in the south. But there are a few from D.C., another very popular Junior League city. The thing about the Junior League is there are a LOT of lawyers in it. So you can imagine that a female networking group in D.C. that favors lawyers might be popular in our nation's capital.

But last night there was even someone from Madison, Wisconsin which means I'm not the biggest yankee anymore! Blah blah blah I think clubs are cool. Blah blah blah the Steelers won. I'll stop going on and on about women's leagues.

We are going to Dallas for the game but we will most likely not attend the game since that would cost about $600. We are going to Austin, too. Between New Orleans and Austin I'm bound to run into Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds this year, right?

Here We Go

If you're from anywhere near Pittsburgh, I know what your plans are for the evening. They involve either putting on 15 layers of clothing and filling up coolers of beer and snausages or they involve yelling at a flat-screen tv or 20 and eating beer and snausages.

If you live in New Orleans and you're a member of the Junior League Transfers group, you are currently having your left foot and calf humped by a four-month-old terrier-poodle mix (oh wait, that's just me). Actually you have a dinner planned for 5:30 p.m. CT that has been on the calendar for two months. The timing would have been altered if the beloved Saints were playing today. But they are not. But the Stillers are! So the kick-off time for the party and for the game coincide perfectly.

Now I really love being a member of the Junior League. We help homeowners renovate houses, donate backpacks to school kids, and donate funds to shelters. We also have kick-ass social activities. Like tonight would have been if there weren't a kick-ass game to watch.

So I was torn. Attend the party at the mansion with all my new girlfriends and drink wine and try everyone's potluck dish, OR go the bar or to J & G's back yard  and drink beer and eat tortilla chips (snausages?) and bite my fingernails as Roethlisberger gets sacked again and again? I'm going halfsies. First half with the ladies. Second half with the fans or foes.

We saw some clip about Rex Ryan last night and how he's always telling his players to just "be yourself." Riiight, as long as "yourself" is faster, stronger, smarter and better than your Steelers counterpart. Well, Mark Sanchez is definitely cuter than Big Ben, so they've got that.

Which reminds me. Yesterday we were walking in the Quarter with Buddy!, who we discovered is scared of brass instruments. He actually backed himself up into an ornate lamppost, he was so terrified. But he got used to it. We ran into a miniature greyhound and his owner who called his dog "Rexy." Rexy is a rescue who apparently used to beat the crap out of other dogs, but is now "spoiled rotten." Buddy! got to be his first attempt at socializing, which we didn't realize at the time. The owner was so happy that Rexy did so well and apparently didn't rip off Buddy!'s ear or something.

Then I went to the fancy dog "barkery" and got Buddy! a treat shaped like a squirrel.

Go Steelers!

Back in NoLa

Just returned to my new home state from a ten-day jaunt through the Mid-Atlantic region. Highlights of the trip include watching West Virginia beat Georgetown (even though Pitt later KILLED Georgetown), checking out some hip places in Baltimore, seeing my best friend and her daughter (even though in was in IKEA). Actually let's stop here. My friend M wanted to go to IKEA for their sale.

Since I was in Baltimore and IKEA is in Baltimore, she decided to combine the two visits. So we walked around IKEA for two hours while her husband slept in the car and her daughter (not yet four) kept telling us to "hurry" because we had made the mistake of letting her see the children's play area upon arrival and she needed to get back to it STAT.

Since little A was so good in the store she got to pick a toy and she picked the most expensive gigantic stuffed dog and named it Lilly ($19.95). M says that every new doll is named Lilly. When I was little I named all of my dolls and imaginary friends Alexandria and Elizabeth and Olivia--anything I thought was "Victorian." By the by, I always found playing with imaginary friends extremely boring. Did anyone actually enjoy this?

Oh, we took the train to Baltimore from D.C., which was really fast and convenient. They don't inspect your luggage on those things, so terrorists probably like them.

After that we went to Gettysburg, which was cool. And cold. But we got the CD to play in your car and drove around the monuments and battlefields. Yes, Buddy! was with us and it was fun letting him run around but making sure he didn't desecrate any piece of history. At some point he pooed on his leash. I discovered that later in the hotel room and was like, "That's why I kept smelling it . . ."

The Pastoral and Historical combine for an appealing site in Gettysburg.

Cannonball!

One of the biggest monuments--looks out over Cemetery Hill and uh, something else important

The above monument commemorates the lives lost from the state of Virginia, which was technically NOT my home state as of 10 or so days before. The Battle of Gettysburg took place July 1-3, 1863. Governor Arthur I. Boreman gave the first Inaugural address to the residents of West Virginia on June 20, 1863. Thank you Internet article: W.Va. Birth Date

After this we had a brief stop in MoTown to see our Captain America J. who everyone is praying for and who should be back in top form soon enough. And then . . . Follansbee!!!

This was actually one of my favorite parts of the trip because we didn't have anything to do or anywhere to be. But it snowed the whole time and we were restricted to twice daily walks around the neighborhood to keep from going all "Shining" on each other. Buddy! loves the snow, even though it makes him shiver:

BudDog likes to make yellow slushies

It was then on to Pittsburgh where we stayed at Tomo's because he's an awesome friend and we went out to BRGR, a new hip joint in East Liberty. And the whole town was jumping for joy because the Steelers won and the Patriots lost and yay! more football games to watch!!!

Somewhere in there West Virginia won another basketball game. I like to see if Huggins is wearing his wedding ring during the games. Because sometimes he does and sometimes he doesn't. I mean, that's supposed to be optional, right? Or maybe some days it just doesn't fit on his finger.

We saw lots of friends and ate good food and it was fun. But, I am so happy to be back in 50+ weather and in my own bed. Buddy! is in his crate and not hiding under someone's bed waiting for me to walk by so he can bite the crap out of my ankle. Or pee on someone's floor. (Sorry friends who let us stay!)

Where did that little black marker go?

Why do they make dog stuff so complicated? I bought Buddy! this cool bake name tag and I screwed it up, of course. Not too surprising since I tend to do many things the wrong way. Some past doosies include painting an entire bathroom dark blue with no paint tape around the word work. Covering the areas you don't want smeared with blue paint--what a great idea! I also broke off my side mirror on my car not once, twice, but four times. I ran into a bank teller wall, a mailbox, a parked truck's mirror and the back of a moving truck. My point is that I sometimes, not always mind you, do stupid stuff.

Today I wrote on Buddy!'s name tag with a "MediChoice Skin Marking Pen" that I thought was the marker that came with the tag. I mean they are both little markers. So, here's how the name tag turned out:

Can you read this?

I mean, this is actually Elbow's fault. Where did this skin marking pen come from? I certainly didn't bring it home from my work, since I don't have a job! I am starting another internship, though. Get this. It's at the hospital where they didn't hire me back in August. And guess who I'll be working under? The woman they did hire! Have I mentioned that I tend to do things the wrong way?

Exhibit A:

Looks just like the marker that came in the name tag package.

In other news, check out these awesome shoes we bought Buddy! He's like Mike Tyson in these mini boxing gloves. I'll try to get a picture. Elbow also insisted we buy him a camouflage hooded jacket. Yes, hooded. 

I will definitely get a picture of that.

A knockout

Here's some other cute pictures of Buddy! 

Wanted!

He likes to scatter around random objects. That's his little sweater. 

Cute puppy = attention and free stuff

For Christmas, I got a little dog who looks like Toto from The Wizard of Oz. His name is Buddy! and he likes to chew socks and do number 2 in his cage. Here he is dressed up for the holdiays:

Buddy! loves antlers

This picture was taken when Buddy! was still shy and a little bit nervous around us. Nowadays he rips around like a furry tornado, tipping kitchen stools and dragging pieces of firewood until he literally passes from exhaustion on a lap. Currently he is trying to dig his way to the bottom of our couch and making noises like the girl from The Exorcist.

But he does get us free stuff. A woman bought me coffee the other day because I was outside with Buddy and couldn't go in to get it. A groomer gave him a free brush.

Buddy! is the reason I have not blogged in two weeks or finished the second novel in the Wicked series (so good). We love him. The drawback is that I actually have to brush my hair and look decent before I go walking in the park because this dog is a people magnet. People love to talk to him and about him and I can barely get around the oval without someone coming to tell me about how much they want a Yorkie Poo of their own. He knows how to play fetch:

Bend it like Beckham