Upcoming Trip and News and Stuff :-)

Hi! It's been a boring couple of weeks for the most part. Next week will be a little more interesting for sure. As previously mentioned, we are headed down to Florida next Thursday for an engagement party. That trip has snowballed into something more!

About 2 weeks ago I was looking through the Tallahassee retirement community websites and came across something very similar to what I'm doing now. Do I love what I do? Not really. But do I love the industry? Absolutely...in that sense, it's the best, most rewarding job I have ever had. So I called the HR department at that facility and asked what the pay would be. The pay range was perfect. So I hung up and got a nice cover letter to go with my resume and even got a nice recommendation from my boss (yes, she knows of my plans to leave). I submitted it all and within a few days I got a voicemail saying they'd like to see me for an interview. Woohoo! Even more woohoo-worthy is that they can see me on one of the days that I will be down there already. But of course nothing can fall into place perfectly...when I finally spoke to the Marketing and Sales Director on the phone to set up an interview time, she informed me that she had ALREADY FILLED that position by promoting someone on their marketing staff. So she still wants to interview me, but for the now open marketing position. Ugh. The job would be fine, but I fear that the pay won't be enough. We don't want to make a move out of desperation...things (especially pay!) have to be right. We aren't looking for unreasonable salaries. We just want to "get by" comfortably. If that makes sense. :-) So anyway, we'll see what we can do in the interview. It's going to be next Friday morning.

Moving along. I'm more excited about this than my own interview. :-) Dane also has "a meeting" about a job when we go down there. Of all places.......UF in Gainesville!!!! The day I see him wearing orange and blue to go to work the camera is coming out. You folks cannot comprehend the loyalty he has to the Georgia Bulldogs. You just can't. The job is actually a textbook manager at the main bookstore on campus working for his current company's main competitor (Follett). Technically, the actual position is a step down from what he does now. But not really because this store is HUGE and it would pay more. So he will be meeting with the store manager next Friday as well.

So what would we do in the event that Dane and I are BOTH offered jobs in different cities?? Well Tallahassee is obviously where we really want to be. We'd actually go with the Gainesville job. Here's why I'm more excited about this than I am my own interview. If Dane could get the Gainesville job we could actually move down there at the same time. Because what you may not realize is that we both HAVE to have jobs in order for us to officially move. Our whole plan has been whoever gets a job first will go ahead and move down there and move in with our friend Amy. The other person stays here in Raleigh and keeps their job while still searching. As soon as the other person finds a job, THEN we could get a house down there and officially move. Stinks huh? That's just the only way we can do it though. So we thought. :-)

If Dane could get this job in Gainesville, then we could move in..............with my parents. Eeks! But this could potentially be the best thing to happen to us financially. We could pay SO MUCH off by just living there for 3-6 months. No more car payments, no more loan payments, no more debts at all (except for our student loans). If we could pay everything off and only have student loans to pay monthly, we would feel as if we hit the lotto. We didn't tell too many people this, (not big on feeling pitied) but when the sale of our house fell through in Tallahassee on closing day, we were counting on that profit in order to make the move. We ended up having to take out a loan just to move and get stuff turned on. We didn't have hot water for months! So anyway, we are still paying on that loan. So much good could come of the Gainesville job. We could finally turn our bout of bad luck around and actually begin a happy rest of our life together.

With all that said, a lot is riding on Dane's "meeting" (not an official interview is how we understand it). However, I will not be devastated if it doesn't work out. When the right job(s) come it'll all be worth it and we'll understand why certain things/jobs didn't work out.

So wish us both well next week! :-)