2010 plans
i suddenly have a very optimistic view of this new year. i’m excited about the plans i have and the opportunities this year might hold. specifically....
i am serious about making a career change. it’s just time and i think i’m ready for it. this weekend, i plan to prepare and submit two applications. one is for a full-time horticulture position. i may not be as qualified as i need to be, but it’s taking a step in the right direction. the other is for a horticulture internship. i think i might be even more excited about that (possibly b/c i know i’m qualified for that and there are so many internship possibilities that it’d be a great way to get my foot in the door). even in writing this, i can tell i have my heart set on the internship program. it would just be so cool to get a 10-16 week position working side by side with people in positions to which i aspire, gaining some relevant job experience that will help me land a full-time position in the horticulture field. the pay is really low for the interships, but again, they’re 10-16 week positions and then i’d have some experience to help me get a full-time job. and heck, i could probably get a job in a local nursery for a while after the internship, if no full-time jobs for which i’m qualified are open. so exciting! now if only today were saturday and not friday. gotta put in another day of my current work before i can start applying for future work.
now, given the career change, the plans that i have in the works for 2010 may not all come to fruition, but here are some of the things i’m looking forward to this year.
a trip to greece! yep, that’s right. and that one’s happening with or without a new job. :) just bought the tickets yesterday, so the week after easter, i’m headed to crete with karen to visit daryl, jenn, and their new baby, who should be somewhere between 1 and 4 weeks old when we get there. that is so freaking exciting that i had a hard time focusing at work yesterday after purchasing the tickets! the trip over is going to be a challenge for me, since i don’t handle overnight flights very well (can’t sleep on the plane and i'm going from washington to newark to munich to athens to crete), but having 4 full days in crete, hanging out with my best friends, and getting to meet daryl’s new baby so early is going to be awesome! can't wait!
the international wine expo is valentines day weekend. i’m looking forward to tasting new wines and seeing what’s out there. we weren't able to go last year and are excited to go back this year. especially now that we’ve started our wine blog. (incidentally, any of you who read the wine blog - THANKS - and i promise we’ll be back soon with a new review. given the holidays and my health issues since then, we haven’t been able to post anything new in a few weeks.)
in late march, jonathan and i are planning a day or weekend trip to philadelphia for a tattoo convention. seriously. i love tattoos (even though mine are small and not readily viewed by the general public) and so does jonathan, so we’re going to check out the tattoo convention in philly. i have no idea what to expect, other than to see a lot of tattooed people. i think it’ll be a neat experience. and i love philadelphia, so there’s that too. ;)
every year in baltimore, there’s an outdoor electronic music festival called starscape. i went to my first starscape back in 1999 and went to a few more in subsequent years. i haven’t been in at least two years now, probably more like 4, and i’m thinking about going this year. it’s local, it’s outside on the water, and it’s a relatively inexpensive way to hear a lot of electronic music. (and for me, it’s also a way to find out who’s current on the EDM scene. i’m getting a little out of touch with what’s current as i age!) plus, i love the spectacle of big parties like this. since jonathan and i are skipping winter music conference this year (i know, BOOOOOO, but we can't do everything and we've already been twice, so we're skipping it this year in favor of other adventures), i’d like to go to starscape.
of course there’s my annual dewey beach trip with my college friends. that’s always a good time and i can’t imagine missing it. and if by some stroke of luck the weekend changes this year (we’ve been going to dewey for 19 years and the timing rarely changes), then i might be able to make it to a friend’s destination wedding in mexico. if the dewey weekend doesn’t change, then i think jonathan will probably go to mexico and i’ll go to dewey. (i know. i can hear some of you scratching your heads, going "huh?" i can’t explain it except to say that this particular weekend has been a tradition with my friends for 19 years. 19 years! that’s nothing to sneeze at. and i’ve only missed 1, maybe 2 years due to extenuating circumstances. for some of my friends, this is the only time of the year i actually see them. and this is a relatively close knit group of people. i'm fortunate to have them in my life.)
another thing jonathan and i are thinking about this year is going to sturgis. jonathan wants to take a few motorcycle trips this year and we’ve thought about going to sturgis for a while now. this might just be the year we make it happen. the question i'm asking myself is, will i want to ride by myself or on the back with jonathan? it's been 4 years since i've ridden a motorcycle. lost my nerve back in 2005 after dropping the bike twice on a weekend trip to NC. living in such an urban area with so much traffic, potholes, narrow streets, and the famous DC slow and roll (as opposed to actually stopping at a stop sign) has made it too nerve-wracking for me to ride. but out in the open? it's something to think about.
then, of couse, i’ll have my regular weekend trips to visit friends in NJ (stacy, howard, and baby alexa; karen and her kids). and i always go to NC to visit my family a few times a year. i always promise them at least 1 weekend of manual labor, working in the yard. that’s always fun.
i’m also really looking forward to spring and summer in my house (i.e., yard!) again. i planted a bunch of hyacinth bulbs in my front yard and some more veronica last year and i can’t wait to see what it looks like this spring! this year i’ll also be removing the physcocarpus i put in and replacing it with something. it just needs more water than it’s going to get and i think that spot would be better served by something dense and evergreen. there are a gazillion other things i hope to accomplish in my yard this year (i know..., surprise, surprise). time will tell how much i get done there. and you know me, i’ll post pictures and recaps the whole way.
so as usual, i have a lot planned and a lot to look forward to. is it any wonder i keep waking up at 5 am?
i am serious about making a career change. it’s just time and i think i’m ready for it. this weekend, i plan to prepare and submit two applications. one is for a full-time horticulture position. i may not be as qualified as i need to be, but it’s taking a step in the right direction. the other is for a horticulture internship. i think i might be even more excited about that (possibly b/c i know i’m qualified for that and there are so many internship possibilities that it’d be a great way to get my foot in the door). even in writing this, i can tell i have my heart set on the internship program. it would just be so cool to get a 10-16 week position working side by side with people in positions to which i aspire, gaining some relevant job experience that will help me land a full-time position in the horticulture field. the pay is really low for the interships, but again, they’re 10-16 week positions and then i’d have some experience to help me get a full-time job. and heck, i could probably get a job in a local nursery for a while after the internship, if no full-time jobs for which i’m qualified are open. so exciting! now if only today were saturday and not friday. gotta put in another day of my current work before i can start applying for future work.
now, given the career change, the plans that i have in the works for 2010 may not all come to fruition, but here are some of the things i’m looking forward to this year.
a trip to greece! yep, that’s right. and that one’s happening with or without a new job. :) just bought the tickets yesterday, so the week after easter, i’m headed to crete with karen to visit daryl, jenn, and their new baby, who should be somewhere between 1 and 4 weeks old when we get there. that is so freaking exciting that i had a hard time focusing at work yesterday after purchasing the tickets! the trip over is going to be a challenge for me, since i don’t handle overnight flights very well (can’t sleep on the plane and i'm going from washington to newark to munich to athens to crete), but having 4 full days in crete, hanging out with my best friends, and getting to meet daryl’s new baby so early is going to be awesome! can't wait!
the international wine expo is valentines day weekend. i’m looking forward to tasting new wines and seeing what’s out there. we weren't able to go last year and are excited to go back this year. especially now that we’ve started our wine blog. (incidentally, any of you who read the wine blog - THANKS - and i promise we’ll be back soon with a new review. given the holidays and my health issues since then, we haven’t been able to post anything new in a few weeks.)
in late march, jonathan and i are planning a day or weekend trip to philadelphia for a tattoo convention. seriously. i love tattoos (even though mine are small and not readily viewed by the general public) and so does jonathan, so we’re going to check out the tattoo convention in philly. i have no idea what to expect, other than to see a lot of tattooed people. i think it’ll be a neat experience. and i love philadelphia, so there’s that too. ;)
every year in baltimore, there’s an outdoor electronic music festival called starscape. i went to my first starscape back in 1999 and went to a few more in subsequent years. i haven’t been in at least two years now, probably more like 4, and i’m thinking about going this year. it’s local, it’s outside on the water, and it’s a relatively inexpensive way to hear a lot of electronic music. (and for me, it’s also a way to find out who’s current on the EDM scene. i’m getting a little out of touch with what’s current as i age!) plus, i love the spectacle of big parties like this. since jonathan and i are skipping winter music conference this year (i know, BOOOOOO, but we can't do everything and we've already been twice, so we're skipping it this year in favor of other adventures), i’d like to go to starscape.
of course there’s my annual dewey beach trip with my college friends. that’s always a good time and i can’t imagine missing it. and if by some stroke of luck the weekend changes this year (we’ve been going to dewey for 19 years and the timing rarely changes), then i might be able to make it to a friend’s destination wedding in mexico. if the dewey weekend doesn’t change, then i think jonathan will probably go to mexico and i’ll go to dewey. (i know. i can hear some of you scratching your heads, going "huh?" i can’t explain it except to say that this particular weekend has been a tradition with my friends for 19 years. 19 years! that’s nothing to sneeze at. and i’ve only missed 1, maybe 2 years due to extenuating circumstances. for some of my friends, this is the only time of the year i actually see them. and this is a relatively close knit group of people. i'm fortunate to have them in my life.)
another thing jonathan and i are thinking about this year is going to sturgis. jonathan wants to take a few motorcycle trips this year and we’ve thought about going to sturgis for a while now. this might just be the year we make it happen. the question i'm asking myself is, will i want to ride by myself or on the back with jonathan? it's been 4 years since i've ridden a motorcycle. lost my nerve back in 2005 after dropping the bike twice on a weekend trip to NC. living in such an urban area with so much traffic, potholes, narrow streets, and the famous DC slow and roll (as opposed to actually stopping at a stop sign) has made it too nerve-wracking for me to ride. but out in the open? it's something to think about.
then, of couse, i’ll have my regular weekend trips to visit friends in NJ (stacy, howard, and baby alexa; karen and her kids). and i always go to NC to visit my family a few times a year. i always promise them at least 1 weekend of manual labor, working in the yard. that’s always fun.
i’m also really looking forward to spring and summer in my house (i.e., yard!) again. i planted a bunch of hyacinth bulbs in my front yard and some more veronica last year and i can’t wait to see what it looks like this spring! this year i’ll also be removing the physcocarpus i put in and replacing it with something. it just needs more water than it’s going to get and i think that spot would be better served by something dense and evergreen. there are a gazillion other things i hope to accomplish in my yard this year (i know..., surprise, surprise). time will tell how much i get done there. and you know me, i’ll post pictures and recaps the whole way.
so as usual, i have a lot planned and a lot to look forward to. is it any wonder i keep waking up at 5 am?