spring time favs...

yummy! i have been addicted to these two items for the past few weeks. as i have given up fast food...yes, it is true, since january 28th. it is actually not as hard as i thought! and it is absolutely amazing to me how much money i was just throwing away eating at the food court on a daily basis! i am now an official take-your-lunch-and-snack-to-work girl. i wish that my mom would make me some super cool lunch bags like i used to have in elementary school! yeah, brown bags with my name in cool letters and colors...those were the days. but, my lean cuisines, sandwiches and yogurts survive just fine in my ginormous black purse!

seriously though, if you have not tried either of the two products listed above...get on it! the cereal is addicting!!! ooh, and you probably should try the sweet n' sour chicken lean cuisine...it has pineapple in the sauce! yummy, yummy, yummy!

too bad right now i am on a liquid diet...stupid sore throat. probably why i felt like blogging about food! hmm...sickness is no fun. but, i am a pretty good patient. i take my meds, drink my juice and katie's are really good resters. love my jammies and my couch!

med time...followed by bed time.

katie out.

career change anyone?

this has the potential to be a lenghty post. so, be warned! here we go...

since i was a little little kid, i always thought i wanted to be a lawyer. just like my daddy. took the steps necessary in undergrad to prepare myself for the career. much to my father's dismay majored in what i thought was a "unique" major...psych. pun totally intended, as i majored in psychology and it is far from unique! took the lsat at 23, didn't go as well as i planned. decided not to persue law. maybe later. at the time i was coaching softball for mhs and thinking, maybe i want to get into education, not a teacher though. maybe school counseling? but, i like working so, maybe later.

after undergrad had an awesome job with marriott. as i wasn't in school, took the opportunity of a lifetime and spent 6 fabulous weeks in san fran, working behind the scenes in a huge hotel. woke up one morning and thought, yeah, this is what i want to do. i want to run hotels. took the necessary steps to prepare myself for a job as a hotel manager.

2006 i start as the front office manager for the springhill suites. phone rings off the hook, every... single... night. no sleep for katies, too much work. no privacy for katie...too many phone calls. love my staff. i miss my staff! nikki, taryn, christie, jackie...i heart you girls and miss you dearly! love my boss. love, love, love, my boss. minda, is one of my closest friends. how lucky am i to have a former boss as really one of my best friends. very lucky. anyway, so yeah, work my behind off as the front office manager. six months later, become the assistant general manager. better title, same work...same hours. pace decides he is going to grad school, moving to california. this is it!! we are going to start this awesome adventure in california. new job for katie. right career path maybe?

katie not working in hotels. katie working in retail...hmm. don't get me wrong, i am very very fortunate in the current world to have a job that pays me well, very well. and fortunate to have a job that i like. i don't love this job. i like this job. i have made some great friends, i work with some great people. but, this is not the right career path. not in the least. katie goes back to the drawing board. what does katie want to do?

note, this was not an overnight decision. this is an ongoing battle that has been taking place in my head for about the past, well...4 years.

finally....i know what i want to do!

teach!! katie want's to be an elementary school teacher. call me crazy, but i do. and i am stoked. i haven't figured out all the details. i have found a program that i am highly interested in and seems to offer everything that i need. if everything works out as planned, i will be starting in january 2010. whew. i am excited. best part is, i am not just getting my teaching credential (license) i am actually going back to get my masters! i am thrilled. in only two year short years i will have my masters in education and a teaching credential! i am really hoping that we can make it happen in january. i have some serious prep work to do, lots of tests. but, i can do it. the best part is, because i know this is what i want to do, i am not worried about time constraints. if it doesn't work out in january, i can certainly make it happen next fall.

i am so excited! again, i have a goal! i have something that i can work towards. and most importantly, i am so excited that i get to go back to school!!

yeah for katie for having a new goal, and for (hopefully!) finding the right career path this time! it is funny how the girl who thinks at 3 years old she has her whole life planned out actually really finds out what she wants to do at 26...and after 3 attempts! better late than never, right?

wish me luck!

why i am not an accountant...

first off...i am sooo angry at the state of utah right now. thinking that they can take a ton of my heart earned money and not give it back in the form of a refund. it is so ridiculous. hopefully, and this is why we are all oh so very glad that i am not an accountant, i did them right.

last year i had this awesome and wild idea that i wanted to do my own taxes. i felt so grown up. i got all my forms printed out, and all filled out. then, i had my dad double check them. seems i could easily calculate my federal return, but when it came to the state...i had inadvertently lessened my return by a couple hundred bucks. thank heaven for daddy's who can easily spot errors on taxes! and he doesn't charge me. which is nice.

so today, i decided finally i would go and pick up the forms so i could get them mailed off to my loving father. he is going to do them again this year free of charge...thanks dad! i was very curious as to how much money would be returned to me. this state is kind expensive for katie's and we are coming upon my favorite season...spring clean out your wardrobe and buy new key pieces for summer! it truly is an amazing season, full of life and color (mostly black :) )...but it can be a bit costly. as pace likes to remind me... "we are starving grad students". uh huh. sure we are. one of us is a grad student, but c'mon with a ginormous rent like ours, we are hardly in the poor house if we continue to have a roof over our head and monthly entertaining/spending money left over. i do realize that i need to save, so this is where the tax return comes in. or so i thought! and for the record. i have been so good at saving money. i have only been shopping twice since christmas. and i just barely spent the rest of my christmas money this week on a new pair of work shoes...how freaking boring am i! so "take that pace's beliefs!" i still love you babe, but i do love that phrase!

back to my story. sorry, i was side tracked by the idea of refurbishing my wardrobe. i did my taxes today. i love the feds...so weird. love the state of california...detest the state of utah! according to my calculations...a big fat ZERO return. so not cool. so angry. my wardrobe hates them. i cannot belive that i worked at my job, slaving away at the hotel for hours and hours and hours...and days and days and days...and for what? for no tax return. ridiculous. forget the experience i gained from the job...i want my money back!

i demand a refund!

i am so angry right now i can't sleep. it is midnight and i have to be up in six hours and i am wide awake and mad. if it was an hour earlier i would call my dad and have him run these figures, but i have a feeling the cost of awakening him at this hour would cost me more than my combined total tax return. so i wait. until morning...and so help me if this return remains zero i am never ever ever coming back to utah. ever. ok, so i will probably still come back even if they don't give me my money back, but i am really really mad right now.

going to watch hsn or qvc, must have happy dreams of shariff purses or something insane and ridiculous like that. pace is already asleep, so i can't vent to him. smart man. smart smart man.

g'night all. sweet dreams.