As God Is My Witness...

This morning was an adjustment. First day back in the apartment, cold and gloomy, and running behind already. Luckily Roommate saw it in his heart to drop me off close to the Loop. But when I tried to get back I discovered that my CTA pass had expired. No more wandering the el lines of Chicago for me. Until I get a job I'm conserving my rides on the train or bus.

On "rainy days" such as these, I like to put on my sweatpants, grab a handful of dark chocolate, and put on my favorite "go get 'em champ" movie...

Not only can I zone out and recite every single line or inhale popcorn like some kind of popcorn inhaling vacuum, I get a lot of work done: a.k.a sitting with my laptop and applying for jobs, reading the news, and charging my feisty spirit. As God is my witness, they're not going to lick me.

What's your favorite rainy day movie?

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Blueberry Pancakes

I'm back having clocked six days, two performances and four orders of blueberry pancakes...yes FOUR! If you didn't believe that I was a secret fat kid before, I hope you'll trust me from now on. I can put it away, and I exercise for my own narcissism mostly.

This was Viking Boyfriend's yummy breakfast (it looked so happy!) but don't be fooled the pancakes in the background were bigger than my head. When we weren't noshing on breakfast foods there was a lot of this going on:

Viking Boyfriend bought a new game with his gift cards from x-mas and I scoured Craigslist like a fiend. At least two applications per day, and I also made some pretty rad Polyvore sets and beefed up my Pinterest, you know, so when I'm at a job interview and they ask "do you think you have an editorial view on fashion and design?" I can say "Why yes, please direct your attention to my glorious Pinterest!" I hear that's the first question they ask at the interview for Dunkin' Donuts.
And in between (Irish) Viking Boyfriend's performances I got to catch up on some writing and took Artist-Self on our second date! Cue music:

First Artist Self wanted to go try on some clothes, and frankly so did I. There's something therapeutic wandering racks of clothes, so I picked out a few outfits, and I let Artist-Self chose a few...

I picked out a buffalo plaid button up (huge shocker) and I let Artist-Self put a sleeveless trench over top of it. Not bad! I felt nice and Michael Kors-y in it and inspired me to thrift a trench coat just to rip the arms off of it.

I can hear the collective sighs of my friends already. "A blue dress? Again? Oh Kiley!" But hear me out, it had polka dots and it was swishy, and it reminded me of Spring.  It also seemed to compliment Viking Boyfriend's socks...yup, classy move.

Artist-Self picked this one out. Lots of color, reminded me of Florida, well done Artist-Self.

The next thing Artist-Self wanted to do was browse the make-up aisle for far too long, find some inexpensive Valentines (I can't show you or it wouldn't be a surprise!) and remembering that it was Jason Wu day at Target!

After the Missoni fiasco of last year, showing up at Target only to find baby leggings and a size 5 rain boot, I swore off designer collaborations no matter how lovely. Now of course when I got there all that was left were a few dresses and the t-shirts, but it was still a pleasant surprise (and look how much better the lighting is in there! I'll never buy a bathing suit anywhere else!)

This morning I packed it all up, kissed the Viking goodbye, and came back. The lake was a Tiffany Blue and the sun was shining, it's a sign right?

More Chicago adventures to come this week!

Two Lips

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Taking Saturday to catch up on things and Sunday to be a little bit lazy. Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend!

-K.K.

The Application Shuffle

My long weekend at the country estates is making me fall behind on my writing, running, and actually getting ready for the day, oops.

But I got to see Viking Boyfriend play and Irishman and sing karaoke Tenacious D at the "after party". Viking Boyfriend got to watch me fill out job applications and do stuff like this all day:

If only someone would pay me to make Polyvore sets or play on Pinterest all day long...but as it stands it looks like I'm still unemployed. I've been stalking the Craiglist job postings like a honey badger on snakes and no one has sent me a response yet.

After the first few failed attempts at getting a part time job I tried to convince myself that I was going about it the wrong way and I should try and make the job hunt fun. I could try something I'd never tried before, something I have experience in and love to do, but the smaller my bank account becomes the smaller my options are looking. It gets difficult when you feel like you're not measuring up to the other 20-somethings that have jobs and a reliable income and don't need to stress out about the fact that they don't have 2+ years of Server experience...

and where in the blue blazes do you get the first two years of experience in Chicago anyway?

And to the unemployed folk out there: does it get annoying when you get bad (if not terrible) service at a restaurant or in retail and think "how does that rude person have a job and I don't?"

The mind reels.

Argh.

Filling out job applications...

Using a picture of my niece Kira to convey my sighs.