Hey Fay.

It's been awhile, so this is long.

My days have been spent job searching and laying in the pool. Last week was actually very busy. I had a meeting with the president of Central Florida's Junior Achievement. We chatted for a couple hours and he now knows every detail of my college career. He put me in touch with the person in charge of JA of Osceola County for a potential job opportunity. She's yet to get back to me, but she's running the county herself, so she's a busy lady. I also went for a copy writing interview, which consisted of a human resources person administering a 50-question test to make sure you understand the English language well enough and have some sort of math skill. My math skills = nearly non-existent. I haven't heard back, so either my Purdue degree doesn't make me as smart as I thought I was, or I just don't have enough experience. My bet is on the latter, but it's possible my test-taking skills are rusty.

Friday was a great day. I had a meeting with the editor of Orlando Style Magazine. She briefly looked over my stuff and talked about the magazine, then proceeded to tell me about the position of being a contributing writer (!). She liked me, we bonded over my love of writing about fashion and health. Then she broke the news: the job is unpaid. Right now, the magazine thrives with the help of unpaid contributing writers who work full-time jobs and write in their free time. Basically, this is just like what I was doing at Purdue for HELEN. Which means I don't know any different, so I tell her I'm totally excited to work for them. I just sent her some pitches for November stories and she should be getting back to me soon with story assignments. My writing could be reaching over 180,000 people in the Orlando area come November. (Hooray!)

I left that meeting feeling great and excited about my upcoming assignments. I felt focused on my writing career, thinking about the experience I can put on my resume and how I'll be soaking up everything Orlando Style can give me. Obviously, I need to work somewhere for money, so I start thinking about my options. While focusing on my writing career, it'd be best to work somewhere flexible. I also want to have a life, which I'm realizing would NOT happen while working for Disney or a Disney equivalent. My lovely sister had recently pointed out one job venture I hadn't considered: bar tending.

One delicious hazelnut latte and a sister-convo later, I walked into this little bar near the house. The girl behind the bar looked nice enough, so I asked her: "Hi, um, I don't know if you guys are hiring, but I'm looking for a bar tending job. I've never bar tended in my life, but if someone is willing to train me or you know a place that would, I'd really appreciate it." She recommends a couple places and tells me she's been doing it for 6 years. She started bar tending to pay for school. She's been doing it ever since because of the money she makes. Excellent. I make my way to The Pub. An Irishman gives me a cup of tea while I fill out my application. We chat and bond over my recent travels to Florida and his worldly trips. Then he asks me about my experience in waitressing, which I proceed to admit that I basically know nothing, that my hostessing duties consisted of busing tables and helping servers with beverage orders. Once he realizes he'll have to train me in everything restaurant-related, he asks me when I can start. So, I'm training this week at The Pub, where I will be learning the ropes of the restaurant biz while looking forward to bar tending.

I'm employed. I have a writing gig. It's not what I thought I'd be doing 3 months after graduation, but I'm excited to be making money and working on a writing career.

I also had a visitor! Aunt Joyce came down for a few days. It was great having someone here with me and we had a blast. She showed me around Winter Park, which I LOVED. My favorite place: The Wine Room. It's basically a dream place made for wine lovers. Winter Park was beautiful and I can't wait to explore more of it. We did some shopping. I got a few new dresses, now that I've figured out that the weather here really doesn't allow for a girl to wear anything but a dress to be comfortable. We also bought me some provisions in preparation for Fay's arrival. By the way, the sky is cloudy and it's rained a little. This hurricane/tropical storm thing doesn't have me convinced yet, but maybe it will by the end of the day. She took me to see Mamma Mia, which was fabulous! My newest addiction is the soundtrack, which plays on repeat in the car (sorry fellow Orlando drivers). We went to Disney for awhile on Monday (thanks, Grandma!). We went to Magic Kingdom where the air was hanging around all of the sweaty, screaming kids. It was wicked humid, but luckily the sun wasn't out much. We went to Epcot later in the afternoon for the sole purpose of going to the World Showcase's Mexico for dinner and margaritas. It was delicious! All in all, it was a fun-filled weekend and I'm so lucky to have a family that takes care of me during my unemployment.

Interviews, Irishmen, Pool Time, Family Bonding, and Hurricane/Tropical Storm/Glorified Thunderstorm Fay. A packed couple of weeks it's been.