New Life, New Job, New Blog

Image via here

Hi guys! Are you so digging the new look? I decided a while ago that after I finished the wedding recaps, I would update the blog. I was so sick of the dark colors, and I don't know if you ever noticed but there were these weird pictures of giraffes in the middle of the flowers. When first I installed the design template, I didn't notice them, and then when I did, they became all I noticed.

In addition to the new design, you'll notice some other new/different things around the blog. First up, I got rid of the twitter updates. They were making the page load drag, and frankly, I just don't twitter. Instead, I've included a "Popular Posts" section on the right.

There's also an "About Me" section now, and an entire page with links to the wedding recaps entitled (obviously) "Our Wedding." Both of these can be found underneath the title.

Finally, look at that title again. Since I am officially married now, I'm technically NOT "Not The Marrying Kind," so the"Not" is crossed out. I guess I finally proved my mother wrong, eh?

So yes, that's the blog, but what about me? Well, the apartment is 90% redecorated. I just have a couple of small projects left to do, so that's awesome. And (more importantly) I got a job. One day after my benefits and pay ended at my old job, I got a new one. Somebody up there cares, huh? It's very happy news. And the best part? It's at the place where I've been doing all these temp gigs for the past two years, which is awesome, because it's where I wanted to work from the beginning! I love the people I work with, and while what I'm doing is not 100% what I'd like to be doing, I think that will resolve itself in a year or so. I'm still in that yucky beginning phase of a job, though, where I'm stressed and things are hectic and crazy and unorganized, especially since I kind of got thrown into my position at the last minute. Nevertheless, the best part has to be that my commute has gone from 1-1.5 hours to 20-30 minutes, which means more time to live life! I used to have to take 2 buses and a train all the way to the south side, and now I'm two short bus rides away, and I almost never wait for either bus. It's so freaking awesome! I get home way earlier, I'm more energized, and most importantly, I'm happy. So, just like my wise grandmother used to say, in the end, it all worked out for the best.

But now that my life feels more organized, or like it's getting more organized, I have to say I'm so mad at myself for letting it get so out of control and chaotic and bad. There were a lot of factors that were out of my control (layoffs, family deaths, family medical drama, etc.), but there were things that I let slide because it felt easier to at the time, even though, in the end, it only made me more unhappy. One of those things was this blog. I love to write, and there was a time when this blog had decent, steadily increasing blog readership. Now I have a few people who have hung in there with me, which I appreciate soooo much, but I'd like to get it back to where it used to be. I was so disappointed with myself when I saw that last year I posted 80 times (and started the blog in April), and this year I've posted something like 12 times. That is just sad. The past 12 months have been some of the hardest of my life, but what made it harder was the fact that I let myself go so much. That has to change. So I'm making a vow to try to blog more beginning in the next month. It will still take me a while to get into a routine since I'm still finishing up the apartment, and getting used to my new job, but it's a goal, and that's what's important. I feel like by the end of this year, I will have a routine more down pat.

Lastly, this blog is probably going to switch gears a bit. I always envisioned that after I got married this blog would become more of a lifestyle blog, with nods to weddings. And that's pretty much what's going to happen. I've kind of OD'd on weddings. I couldn't even get it together to submit my wedding to more than two places. It's so...boring now. I wasn't bored by it three, even two months ago, but these days, I'm bored. So now the focus will be on the stuff of life: marriage, everyday life, clothes, homes, children, etc. with inspirational weddings thrown in every once in a while for good measure.

Speaking of...we hit our 6 month mark this week, and things are so much better. The house being clean and me getting a job have A LOT to do with that. Who knew it took so little to get a marriage going again?

Here's to the future, guys, and a beautiful new blog!