Memorial Day Weekend in "The Big Apple"

Memorial Day weekend "the girls" (from bottom left Christy, Jessica, Jen, Jodi, Me and Pam) and I jetted off to New York City for a girls weekend. We ate, drank, shopped and shopped some more. New York was fabulous dahling, just fab!!

I have never been on official "girls weekend" that didn't involve gambling and Las Vegas. This was not only my official foray into JUST shopping and dining, but it was also my frist trip to NYC!! It was a very exciting weekend for yours truly! I look back at the weekend and I realize my eyes were glazed over at looking at all the merchandise that was available to me at EXTREMELY reasonable prices. I think to myself, "why didn't I buy that?" I don't know what was going through my head, just all around craziness!! I think I was almost paniced at the whole process of it all.

Of Course while I was there we did do some very touristy things. We went to the Empire State Building, we took the Staten Island Ferry to get a good look at the Statue of Liberty, Ground Zero, Times Square, China Town, Battery Park and we mastered the lovely Subway system!! Here are some pics for your viewing pleasure!

Times Square

China Town
Kids playing in Battery Park
Lady Liberty

All in all, I had a wonderful time with some very wonderful girls!! It was a great weekend and I couldn't have had better travel partners!! I'm looking forward to another trip back to NYC and more clear headed shopping.

NYC Fleet Week!!

Starting today, Fleet Week begins in New York City! Why, do you ask, would this Chicago girl care? Well, this Chicago girl is going to be in New York City this weekend! Yes, this trip was not planned specifically for Fleet Week, it just happened, it's fate, destiny, kissment!!!

A city full of Sailors, Marines and Coast Guardsman all at my disposal!! Some people would think, damn, the city is going to be even more packed, but I don't look at it that way. This is an opportunity to lean more about our military. An opportunity to meet these fine young men, to see how they feel, and see if I can learn anything from them and vice versa. I may take a tour of a battleship or destroyer. I think I really need to delve deep into the culture of the military and see how New York receives these fine people. It's going to be a great weekend!! I'm a lucky girl!!

Dearest Diary

Dear Blog,

Tonight I went out and was soo tired that I left the bar early!! It's 1:53am and I'm sitting here typing this damn blog and watch Pretty Woman for the billionth time, instead of hanging out at the bar. Blog, does this mean something? Am I growing up? Am I too lame? I'm too tired to figure it out!

Happy Birthday

Today would be my sister Jeanette's 36th Birthday! This July she will have been gone 18 years. I miss her everyday!

Update...

I was talking to my boss today at work and we were talking about the lay-off and she informed me that the next rounds of lay-off's will happen in the 3rd quarter of this year, which means that we will be informed in July if we will have a job on September 1. Not good news!!!

I do have my ear to the grindstone, so to speak. I have been working with this Sales Manager at work and they are hiring Door-to-Door Sales reps. (I have been running the Chicago job fairs) Anyway, he told me that they are looking to hire an On Boarding Manager to help all these people with their initial new hire training...i.e. company passwords, signing up for benefits, running future job fairs etc... etc... Just doing stuff the boss doesn't have time to do because they need to get these people selling. So, he told me he would love to hire me, so hopefully, I can get the heck outta Dodge!

In other news...

Went and saw the 20th Anniversary edition of Dirty Dancing in the theater tonight. I hadn't realized that the movie was as cheesy as it was. "Nobody put's Baby in the Corner!"

Surviving the Cut

The department I work in is a "merger synergy" department. What is "merger synergy"? "Merger synergy" is a department where there are duplicate jobs. Let me preface this a bit, I have been at my job 6 years, and in that 6 years I have been through 3 mergers. This last merger (the smallest company we bought) has been the worst. Our department was tagged a "merger synergy" group and therefore, will undergo some cuts. 37% of my department will be cut, to be exact. It's funny, because we have NEVER been busier. They are replacing full-time employee's with contractors.

We just had our first round of lay-offs. Yesterday, people received a letter saying that in 60 days their employment with the company will end, in that 60 days they can apply for new jobs within the company, and if they get a new job they can stay with the company. I did not receive a letter! Phew... I am safe for now. The next round of lay-off comes at the end of the year, that round I probably will not survive. We'll see what happens...I hope to have a new job by then.

To be continued...