It's so hard to get used to working full time after being unemployed for so long. My last two semesters graduate school, I did an internship at a school and an externship at a hospital. The school internship definitely felt like a full time job, but the hospital placement came at a time when the rehab unit at that particular hospital was pretty slow, so some days I was only there a few hours.
The externship ended at the end of April, then graduation was May 7, and then even though I had a job lined up I had to sit around and wait for my license to come in before I could work. So I spent a lot of time doing nothing very productive. And now I have jumped back into the land of the employed, and it is wearing. me. out.
This is my excuse for having fallen WAY behind on the 30 day journal challenge. And I'm not sure when I will catch back up, but I do intend to finish it. I just don't want to throw something on a piece of paper and not be happy with it because it was done when I should have been in bed.
Meanwhile, here are some things that are making me happy at a time when I'm too tired to be very happy:
1. My new body wash smells like gummy bears. Allegedly, it is Suave Sweet Pea and Violet. But it smells like sugar to me. The other day it reminded me of gummy bears and then tonight it smelled like cotton candy. Yum.
2. I pass by two huge fields of sunflowers every day on my way to work. Last September, a very good friend passed away very unexpectedly. She loved sunflowers. A few weeks after her funeral, I bought myself a sunflower charm to wear on a necklace, and I haven't taken it off since I put it on, the day before what would have been her 27th birthday. Since I was 8 or 9 years old, I've been riding/driving past these particular fields, and I can't remember them ever being filled with sunflowers until this year. It makes me smile.
3. My boyfriend is awesome. He has been so supportive since I started working. He works at night, so I was a little afraid of what it would be like, not being able to see him much. I should be asleep by the time he gets home but I usually can't make that happen; I'm just so excited to see him and talk to him at the end of the day. But I'm afraid the lack of sleep is catching up with me and I won't be able to stay up and wait for him much anymore. Luckily, we still have the weekends.
4. My first paycheck. I get paid for the first time July 10. Because of my start date, this will only be a half paycheck, but because this is my first "grown-up" job (meaning, the first time I'm making more than $8 an hour), it will still be the biggest paycheck I've ever gotten. This is what I went to school for. I mean, not to make money; I went to school to do what I love and to help people. But it's nice to finally see the payoff after a year of "working for free" in my internship and externship.
Finally, here are a few pictures from the weekend beach trip. We had fun, but I was so wishing we could have stayed longer!
Walking on the beach Saturday afternoon.
A view of the pier.
My cutie boyfriend in the ocean.
My view from the sand.
Yep, I could have used another week of that.
