FALL!

Anyone who knows me, I mean REALLY knows me, knows how much I LOVE fall! And yes, I am the cliche white girl, indulging on pumpkin spice lattes from Starbucks or pumpkin coffee with cream and pumpkin muffins or donuts from Dunkin Donuts (I'm so hip I've been doing that since the end of August!). And yes, I even bought pumpkin bagels, pumpkin spice bread, pumpkin spice creamer and yogurt at the grocery store. Atop my bathroom sink sits a bottle of pumpkin spice hand soap from Bath and Body Works, and yes I have several fall-scented candles and plug-in air fresheners. "My name is Jennifer and I have a pumpkin flavored addiction."

I'm so ready for fall weather...I love having the windows open, with the crisp fall breeze blowing through my curtains (from Target of course). I can't wait to pick out my pumpkin at the local pumpkin patch, place it artfully on the front porch with my colorful mums, maybe even pick up a white pumpkin and put a mum inside it (thank you Pinterest). I will even snap a pic with my iPhone and post it on Instagram and Facebook. Predictable, I know. I can't wait to have a bonfire out back, wearing a hoodie and my fake Ugg boots...or maybe I'll wear my new colorful rain boots from The Sak. I'm already mentally planning my first fall outfit with tall boots! It involves a scarf...and skinny jeans of course.

I went through my closet yesterday; I do this every season change. I swap my summer clothes with my fall clothes. Naturally, some of them have double-duty, but I don't start wearing the colored corduroy pants until October when the weather is cooler. I do however, wear cute tank tops under cardigans or jackets (I love jackets). Michigan fall is something I miss dearly, but the mountains of North Carolina do a pretty good job of making up for that. I love the cooler weather, the changing leaves, and all that comes with fall: Halloween, Thanksgiving, etc. Please don't misunderstand, I LOVE NC and if given the choice between a vacation to Alaska or Hawaii, I'm choosing Hawaii. I love the beach, but I love the changing seasons just as much. North Carolina certainly has the seasons, but not like Michigan.

My Journey to MOW

"Once a teacher, always a teacher." "You can take the teacher out of the classroom, but you can't take the classroom out of the teacher." In January 2014, after being in the classroom since 2002, and working in North Carolina since 2005, I took a leap of faith and left the education field. Why? You might ask...or maybe not, considering what has been in the news and even on social media. According to WalletHub, North Carolina is THE worst state for teachers, with a ranking of 48/51 for lowest public school spending per Capita and 47/51 for lowest annual salary. North Carolina has been low on the public school rankings for years, but this is the first time since 2005 that the rank was this low. I can't say that the low salary and lack of funding is the ONLY reason I left, but it certainly played a large part in my decision making process. Upon receiving my Masters degree, I was applying for college-level teaching positions. I probably applied for 50 or more! But, as luck would have it, I didn't even get an interview. About a year later, the yearbook teacher at the school I was at retired. I desperately wanted to take that over. After stating my case to the principal and having a strong recommendation from the yearbook teacher, someone else was chosen. I was mad. Angry. Irate. Pissed. You name it, I felt it. I had already been teaching newspaper journalism and desktop publishing for 7 years and was MORE than qualified. Between that let down and my husband and I buying a lot in Rock Hill, South Carolina, I started applying to teaching jobs in Fort Mill and Rock Hill. Long story short, I interviewed and accepted a position in Rock Hill teaching yearbook. Yippee! Not quite...it didn't turn out exactly as I had expected it to, so I only stayed on for 6 1/2 months. I then accepted a position teaching 8th grade Language Arts. After the remainder of that school year, and the beginning of the next, I quickly realized middle school was 100% NOT for me. So, I left in January. This prompted 7, almost 8, months of job searching. I had a part time position in a bridal/formal dress shop that I LOVED! However, I took a 3 month vacation to Florida while my husband was working there. He took a contract position in Lakeland, FL making enough money to support us both (he rocks my socks) and we decided to rent him an apartment in Brandon, FL. That is a whole other boring story, but lets just say Brandon sucks and the apartment was expensive and cruddy. I will say that I enjoyed my time in Florida. Who wouldn't?! I mean, it's Florida! Beaches, sunshine, and palm trees abound. I was blessed to get to spend time with my parents who live near Clearwater and my sister who recently moved to Ft. Myers (from Charlotte) to live on a sailboat--which is awesome but I miss her terribly. I went to Universal Studios and had a FANTASTIC time experiencing the Wizarding World of Harry Potter with my fellow super-fan Lauren, got to see some more family, and went to the beach a few times. It was a nice "vacation" minus taking care of 2 Weimaraners in an apartment. Noah drove me home the end of April and boy was I glad to be home! We had just moved into our new house August 2013, so I was definitely missing it. This was the beginning of being apart from Noah, which sucked big time. He came home about once a month, and I was able to go down there for a week in August. More time spent with family and another trip to Universal to check out the new Harry Potter attraction--which was AWESOME but blazing hot and busy! Finally, after months of stress, frustration, depression, and many let downs, I was hired on at Metro's Other Woman as a personal assistant. The owner, Sarah Benken (who I LOVE!) was able to see my skills, talents, and teaching experience could be easily applicable to personal assisting. Prior to getting hired, I had gone on 4 high school teaching interviews at good schools, 1 interview in an office, but nothing! If you really want to test your patience, examine your self-worth, or do a number on your confidence, apply for jobs. Nothing like rejection to make you feel STELLAR (sarcasm). I think an all-time low for me was when a "recruiter" told me to take a class in Microsoft Office to brush up on my skills. I could have climbed through the phone and choked this person! (Note: I used Office DAILY while teaching, in addition to ALL the other technology) This really made me realize that people outside of the education field have NO IDEA what teachers do! It really made me want to write a book or start a business to help teachers find post-teaching jobs. You'll probably see a post on that later :-) Noah finally got a transfer back to Charlotte in September, so life is finally good again; my other half and best friend is back and I am LOVING what I am doing right now. I have 3 clients I enjoy working for who are appreciative and professional. I am learning A LOT and building my resume, and even getting to write. I have found that I LOVE LOVE LOVE writing! If I could make a living off of writing, I would do just that. It's not a surprise really, I have 2 English degrees so it makes sense that I would love to read and write. Maybe one day... Here's a link to my new place of employment (voted one of the best places to work!) This is a link of the write up featured by Scoop Charlotte.