MY SUNNY SIDE OF LIFE

This blog is about about focusing on the sunny side of life but I would feel like a fraud if I didn’t share some recent life updates. People criticize social media and posting your best life when in reality it’s not all travel and puppy pics. So, in a effort to keep it real, here’s the latest…

On December 5th my world, along with 12,000 other people was rocked. Our company announced that it would be closing its doors. That day. No severance and insurance only to last through the week. The writing had been on the wall for a while but I honestly thought we were going to pull out of it and make a deal that would keep us going. But, that’s not what happened. I will tell you, it sucked. It was right before Christmas and this hurt a lot of families and individuals in ways I will may never truly understand. While most people say the normal sympathetic things to me, they also followed it with either, “well, at least you are ok financially” or, “now you have time to plan your wedding.” Both of which I have had to hold back on slapping them in their face. Planning a wedding is not a full-time job and it certainly is not one pays me! And while I might not be starving, I certainly cannot just sit back and eat bon bons and watch Dr. Phil every day!

It’s true, I didn’t totally freak out, but I think some of that was shock or maybe denial. Because a few weeks later I found myself angry that I had to look for a job, angry that I had to start all over and angry that the job market in Birmingham isn’t that great. I moved here for this job so the only network of people I know are my former co-workers.

And now I am at a crossroads… is this a sign that I should try something totally new? Should I take the first thing that comes along because it’s a paycheck or should I hold out for the perfect or almost-perfect job? Truth is, I just don’t know?

*I wrote this post about three weeks ago and never posted it. So here is the latest update: Still unemployed. I thought I had a consulting gig in the works but the guy just went radio silent. It’s so annoying, and unprofessional. I am a reasonable person and understand that things can change or maybe we just need to negotiate the terms… but just let a person know!

Since I just haven’t seen much out on the job boards I am trying to think of other ways to pull an income. One is real estate. I have always had a strong interest in real estate and have wanted to flip something for a while now. John and I went and looked a property on Friday that was at auction but it was just too big a project for it being my first one. So I am still searching on that end. There were a couple of properties that are part of a rental portfolio that is also interesting so I am waiting to get a little more info. I didn’t think finding something to buy would be so hard!

I am also doing a little day trading. Fun fact: Did you know when I was growing up I wanted to work on Wall Street and be a stockbroker? Yep! While I ended up being far from that I do still have a strong interest in the Market and have been pretty successful over the years.

And while I said that wedding planning is not a full-time job, I have managed to get a lot of things checked off the list in the last couple of weeks (more to come on that in the next post!).

Lastly, this week I am volunteering at a new networking event in Bham. Hopefully I will meet some new people, make connections and maybe even learn something from the speakers! Yay!

So there you have it. Transparency that life is not always rosy but I am working hard to stay busy, be productive and stay focused on the sunny things going in my life… but hopefully I will find something soon because I miss getting my lashes done! 🙁