Christmas is coming!

Today is the first time this entire month that I have felt like excited about Christmas. CHRISTMAS IS COMING!

Maybe this mood has to do with me listening to Pandora's White Christmas station, featuring some of my favorite songs by Mariah Carey, Nat King Cole, Tony Bennett, Bing Crosby, Burl Ives, and other old people. (For the record, Mariah is not old)

In light of my spectacular mood, because Christmas is coming (!), and the fact that I don't work retail tonight and that I have most of my Christmas shopping done, I'm giving away something pretty awesome.

You can win this book that I picked up from the infamous STRAND store in Manhattan when I was in NYC a few months ago. The book is about this photojournalist named Alison Wright who has traveled the world. In particular, she loves Thailand and Laos (is that in Thailand?) and some other exotic countries. Oh, and she's personally talked with and met the Dalai Lama, which makes her even more awesome in my book.

The book is a super easy read and it definitely kept my attention. It centers around a horrific accident she was in and how meditation kept her alive. Then it chronicles her journey to recovery and how she dealt with everyday life. It's an amazing story, and I'm glad I happened to randomly buy it.

Anyone can win, even if you don't live in the U.S. Because I hate it when people say, "tweet this" or "facebook that" for more entries, I'm keeping it simple kids. All you gotta do is comment. It can be something about meditating, about Christmas, or about what you ate today. I could care less. Just comment. I'll have my dog choose the winner.



Provided I actually get comments, this giveaway will end at midnight on the first day of winter, aka December 21. So get crackin'!

Reality Check

Figuratively, I've been hiding out lately. I've been in my own bubble of thoughts.

Basically, I've been interviewing my butt off, and still not getting any job offers. It's SO FRUSTRATING! I've even asked the hiring managers why I didn't get it, and they all basically say, "it's not you, it's me." That doesn't help. People keep telling me that the right job will come along...and I believe that for all of 2.5 seconds, before I think to myself, "yea right, you're not the one spending $100 on new 'interviewing clothes,' you're not the one requesting all these odd half-days off from work, you're not the one doing writing tests once a week and taking returning calls from potential employers while hiding out in your car for fear that a coworker might overhear. Basically, you have no idea what it's like" <---- that's what I want to say.

In the mean time, I've gotten a second job just for the holiday season at the mall. It's not the most glamorous but I'm hoping it'll be worth it. I haven't been sleeping well because I keep dreaming about the job and what I need to remember and how to work the cash register and how I can improve so I don't get fired. Oh, and I'm having trouble with anxiety of the job hunt and of the low low low balance of my savings account. I feel defeated that I'm never gonna be able to afford my own place.

I've also been whining about why I'm not in a relationship. Even people I don't even like have significant others and it's like, why don't I get what I want? Yes, I'm selfish or jealous or whatever. But at least I'm being honest. Even the not attractive looking girls that I work with at my other job have boyfriends and I'm wayyy cuter and sweeter than they are. Just sayin'. It's not fair.

So anyways, I've been keeping all these thoughts in my head. It wasn't until Monday night that I finally got a reality check. I had dinner with my best friend from grade school. She cooked me and her husband dinner. It was great. It was at dinner that I started on my rant about how I'm not getting a new job. She actually reminded me that a lot of people don't even have one job, much less two like I do. She reminded me that I'm thankful to be living at home and not homeless.

And then she shared some of her own news that she's expecting! I seriously was beyond thrilled for her and her husband. Seriously, I can't wait. They are going to be cute parents and the baby is going to be so cute, and they are going to have a cute family.

Ok, I'll stop saying cute now. But really, I was truly happy for her. I wasn't envious of the wonderful life she has. It was hearing this news that popped my inner bubble I was living in and made me see that there are other things out there to be thankful for. Since then, I have new perspective on the things that I'm going through. It doesn't hurt to have wonderful things to look forward to either.


How have you all been?