Mastering the Cover Letter

It's crunch time people - I need to find a job. Not only am I bored out of my mind, but I'm also running out of money.

Now, in my opinion, the worst part of job searching is not the actual searching part, but the act of writing a cover letter. I have to find a way to stand out as an individual as well as convince the person reading it that I am the individual most suited to the position I am applying for. That whole bit about only having five seconds to impress someone is daunting!

Anyhow, I've decided that my efforts to find a job need to be multiplied exponentially, which means it's time to master the dreaded cover letter. Wish me luck...

Sailing

Yesterday was one of my favorite days spent in Madison thus far. A group of us from work went out sailing on Lake Mendota for the entire, beautiful, sunny, amazing afternoon and it was better than words can describe. I have so missed being on the water since I moved away from home and easy access to the lakes at school and the cabin, and I don't think I stopped smiling once all afternoon. The weather was hot, the lake was cool, and it was an all around perfect day. I came home exhausted and sunburnt and wouldn't have changed a minute of the day.

Unpacking

Well, we've finally got all of our stuff in our new apartment (except my piano; that's coming this afternoon) and now we're starting to get things organized. Our kitchen is a complete disaster area, but both of our bathrooms are put together! I'm in desperate need of a few bookshelves to house my many books, but other than that it should just be a matter of unpacking boxes/bags and putting things where they belong.

We've also moved both of our cats in, and it's been an interesting hour since I got back with Callie. She and Mikey have met several times, but given the fact that this is a completely new place for both of them, things are a little tense between them at this point.

It's going to be interesting, this whole living with another person again, but I'm looking forward to the year to come. Our apartment is beautiful, the weather is turning gorgeous, and I'm sleeping in a bed again for the first time in two and a half weeks - gotta love it :)

Today's the Day!

We finally get to move in to our new apartment today!! The woman who lived here before us had lived here as a shut in - that smoked - for six years, so we had to wait an extra couple of weeks to allow for extensive cleaning before we could get in. It's still not perfect, as we have no blinds, but we're excited to get moved out of the boxes that we packed last month and into our new place. I'm here alone right now because I came over to meet the Charter guy and Michelle's parents hadn't shown up yet. The weather is beautiful and we're hoping to get everything done by the end of the day....

Nostalgia

I just finished helping my mom create Karen's CSB quilt square, and it brought back tons of memories. The CSB quilt is a tradition that has been carried on for many years, and I had my own square four years ago. To the family of each incoming Saint Ben's student is sent a linen square that the family then decorates. When the squares are sent back to CSB, they are put in to one of five large frames, each of which is sectioned off to hold a number of the first year squares. The frames stretch down a long hallway in our campus rec center, facing a wall of windows so that everyone who walks by can see them, and they stay up all year. It's a fun tradition, and most new Bennies know where their square is by memory within a couple of weeks. In the first month or so of school, walking by the quilt and touching my square was a nice connection with home... I'm hoping the same will hold true with Karen.

I Think I'm Allergic... to Minnesota

I came home on Tuesday night to spend about a week with my family, and ever since I got here my nose has been running and my head and body have been aching. I recognize these symptoms as symptoms of allergies, and they didn't show up until I got home earlier this week! I guess it's something different growing around here or something in the air that's doing this to me, but the week has not been quite as good as I anticipated. Hopefully this will all clear up when I head back home, because trying to move in to my new apartment with this would suck.