Or life after CPA. Or life after being promoted to audit manager.
Wait, what?!!
Apparently things professionally couldn't be better at the moment. Passed the CPA exam and effective July 1 (coincidentally tomorrow), I'm a manager at my firm. Holy. shit. It's so weird when things start to just fall into place. I know it's been a lot of work to get to where I am right now but it's just like one day all of a sudden everything makes sense and it just all clicks together. It's very refreshing. I'm very excited for the prospect of this next year in my new roles.
Tim also just passed his national medic test on the first try Saturday, which was very exciting. It's quite the accomplishment. The test is not given very frequently (once per year) and it's kind of the practical equivalent of my CPA exam. If he wouldn't have passed it he would have had to fly to California to retake it and if he didn't pass then, well, he would have basically been screwed till next year. My understanding, anyway. I'm very humble in how little I know about his profession. Most often when he talks about any of it, I'm standing there with my mouth open, like, "You. have. got. to. be. kidding. me." I don't think I really need to explain how nuts saving lives must be but to really hear all of the intricate details involved in it-including even the petty politics that exist in his field just like any other- but to deal with that coupled with everything else usually just leaves me shaking my head in astonishment.
This was one half of the ending of his year of medic school and finale of his degree in para medicine. The only thing left is one trauma team lead on a call (meaning he has to have a trauma patient and he has to completely lead the call, make all of the game time decisions, etc) and a written exam. Then he's done.
To celebrate all of our accomplishments in our professions as of late, we spent the weekend in the sun. Wait, did I just say in the sun? When referring to Seattle? I know, it surprised me too. So much so that I want to run around like a two year old on Christmas and tell everyone- "hey, guess what, it's 80 degrees outside. And sunny! And I've been wearing a bikini for the past three days! Aren't you excited?!" While they look at me like I'm on some sort of drug and that if I'm that happy, maybe I should share.
It has been ABOVE 80 degrees here for the past 4 days and shows no sign of any worse weather in the next week. I. am. so. freaking. excited. I really thought we were skipping summer this year. I'm TOLD that every June it takes a while to warm up and "that's just how it is here" but in my reality June is summer and I don't care how it is here. Finally summer cooperated. Anyway, Saturday while Tim was gone all day, I was at the beach. When he got back that evening, it was so hot we went BACK to the lake. Sunday we coupled beach time with running up a mountain. I do have to say that even though we practically ran up 2.5 miles in 90 degree weather at about a 10% incline, it was SO much more tame compared to the beasts of mountains we've done the prior two weeks. No comparison and probably the one and only reason we were even remotely able to run up the thing on Sunday.
Two weeks ago we started with Mt. Si then last week we did mailbox peak. I will write more about mailbox in another post once I have my pictures downloaded and have not already written so much. It was by far one of the most intense hikes I have ever been on. Suffice it to say for now, we were hiking in snow (in June), we were ABOVE all other peaks around us, we were asked by people if the top if we were either a) training for Rainer or b) just trying to kick our own asses (the latter), we were hiking for approximately 6+ hours, the trail was just made by some mountain men (so it was not clearly marked in the slightest...actually that was very cool) and the day after we did it, I stayed home from work. I spent the majority of the day working from home wondering if sliding down the stairs on a cookie sheet would work to get me from point a (upstairs) to point b (downstairs). My only issue was trying to figure out a way to propel myself back UP the stairs after using the cookie sheet down. More on all of that later.
Until then... I'm off to sleep with the windows open and the 75 degree breeze blowing in. In Seattle. I'm in warm weather heaven.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Thursday, June 12, 2008
I PASSED.
Do I really need to say anything else???
I passed the CPA exam. I passed. I PASSED. I FREAKING PASSED. FINALLY, I'M DONE!!!!!!!!!!!
I just wonder when I'm going to stop repeating that in my head and feeling so freaking excited and about ready to jump out of my skin.
Major celebration in order.
Or maybe the major celebration is Hawaii in October but definitely a celebration is in order... and STAT.
(And by the way, I almost peed my pants when I found out this morning... I didn't stop shaking for about 30 minutes. And is it ironic at all to anyone else that literally a year ago to this exact day I started my job up here?)
Holy. god.
I PASSED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I passed the CPA exam. I passed. I PASSED. I FREAKING PASSED. FINALLY, I'M DONE!!!!!!!!!!!
I just wonder when I'm going to stop repeating that in my head and feeling so freaking excited and about ready to jump out of my skin.
Major celebration in order.
Or maybe the major celebration is Hawaii in October but definitely a celebration is in order... and STAT.
(And by the way, I almost peed my pants when I found out this morning... I didn't stop shaking for about 30 minutes. And is it ironic at all to anyone else that literally a year ago to this exact day I started my job up here?)
Holy. god.
I PASSED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
The front page of the Seattle Times today: Colder than Siberia.
Literally.
From the Seattle Times: "While Seattle hasn't seen a 70-degree day in more than two weeks, Fairbanks, Alaska, has had six of them in the past 10 days. Even the Siberian city of Tomsk, Russia, hit the 70s last weekend."
Are. you. f-ing. kidding. me.
It has been pouring for 5 days straight and I would be surprised to find that we have topped 50 on some of those days. And not to mention the wind storm that we had a couple of nights ago that knocked out our power for about 4 hours.
For the love of God... it is June 11!! I keep crossing my fingers that somehow we are going to make the switch from December to June one of these days. It certainly is not the 120 degree June that I have been used to the past few years. Ahhh, I would take sun and heat now... even the 120 degree kind.
From the Seattle Times: "While Seattle hasn't seen a 70-degree day in more than two weeks, Fairbanks, Alaska, has had six of them in the past 10 days. Even the Siberian city of Tomsk, Russia, hit the 70s last weekend."
Are. you. f-ing. kidding. me.
It has been pouring for 5 days straight and I would be surprised to find that we have topped 50 on some of those days. And not to mention the wind storm that we had a couple of nights ago that knocked out our power for about 4 hours.
For the love of God... it is June 11!! I keep crossing my fingers that somehow we are going to make the switch from December to June one of these days. It certainly is not the 120 degree June that I have been used to the past few years. Ahhh, I would take sun and heat now... even the 120 degree kind.
Friday, June 6, 2008
Head Injuries and such
The past couple of weeks have been all about my head. First, using my head to attempt to pass the last section of the CPA exam and second using my head as a tool to hit against things as I move to our new townhouse.
I do not quite know how the CPA exam went. I never walk out feeling awesome but in at least three cases, this has been ok. It’s yet to be determined if I am FINALLY done or not. I can’t say either way. I don’t want to be too positive or too negative so I’ll just be neutral and wait and see.
We got the keys to our new townhouse on May 26. I took the CPA exam on the 28th so we really didn’t start to gradually move things over until that day. On that day, I decided that in the process of moving, I would hit my head on the kitchen floor. Not on purpose, of course. I had gotten the whole kitchen moved in by myself since Tim was still in Ellensburg at school finishing up his finals and last week of classes. On Saturday the 31st, I was attempting to get as much packed and moved as possible by myself since Tim was on shift. It all went ok until I decided that I was superwoman and could move and take apart the mammoth table by myself. I got it all turned over ok but couldn’t figure out how to get the dumb legs off (turns out I didn’t have the right tools). When I stood up out of frustration, I forgot that there was still a leg attached and wham! Crap, head again. Ow.
The third head incident happened on Monday after we were all moved in. It was our first morning there and we were getting ready to take a shower. Well, the shower just happens to be extremely clear glass so as I reached in, or thought I reached in, BAM! And again, the head. I felt like a dumb bird that flies into a window. It was pretty classy. We were both laughing pretty hard at that one.
Anyway, the new place is great. It’s only a couple of miles away from where we were. It’s about 1600 square feet and is three stories. The bottom is the two car garage, the second level is the living room, dining room, kitchen and half bath. There is also a really cool fireplace that divides the living room and dining room. The upstairs is the laundry room, the master bedroom, guest bedroom and two baths. It’s very cute. I’m really excited to be there!! We finally just got everything big in on Wednesday when we got our couch. Now we just have to hang pictures and we will be set! I’m thinking housewarming/Tim’s graduation/YAY it’s FINALLY summer in Seattle party ASAP.
I do not quite know how the CPA exam went. I never walk out feeling awesome but in at least three cases, this has been ok. It’s yet to be determined if I am FINALLY done or not. I can’t say either way. I don’t want to be too positive or too negative so I’ll just be neutral and wait and see.
We got the keys to our new townhouse on May 26. I took the CPA exam on the 28th so we really didn’t start to gradually move things over until that day. On that day, I decided that in the process of moving, I would hit my head on the kitchen floor. Not on purpose, of course. I had gotten the whole kitchen moved in by myself since Tim was still in Ellensburg at school finishing up his finals and last week of classes. On Saturday the 31st, I was attempting to get as much packed and moved as possible by myself since Tim was on shift. It all went ok until I decided that I was superwoman and could move and take apart the mammoth table by myself. I got it all turned over ok but couldn’t figure out how to get the dumb legs off (turns out I didn’t have the right tools). When I stood up out of frustration, I forgot that there was still a leg attached and wham! Crap, head again. Ow.
The third head incident happened on Monday after we were all moved in. It was our first morning there and we were getting ready to take a shower. Well, the shower just happens to be extremely clear glass so as I reached in, or thought I reached in, BAM! And again, the head. I felt like a dumb bird that flies into a window. It was pretty classy. We were both laughing pretty hard at that one.
Anyway, the new place is great. It’s only a couple of miles away from where we were. It’s about 1600 square feet and is three stories. The bottom is the two car garage, the second level is the living room, dining room, kitchen and half bath. There is also a really cool fireplace that divides the living room and dining room. The upstairs is the laundry room, the master bedroom, guest bedroom and two baths. It’s very cute. I’m really excited to be there!! We finally just got everything big in on Wednesday when we got our couch. Now we just have to hang pictures and we will be set! I’m thinking housewarming/Tim’s graduation/YAY it’s FINALLY summer in Seattle party ASAP.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
No removal this time
Today I went in for my 6 month visit to the dermatologist for a skin check. For the first time in the past couple of years I had NO moles removed. In fact, she actually said, "Your skin looks excellent." Imagine that!
And here's my plug for all of you sun/fake-bakers out there, from a former fake-baker. DON'T TAN (and wear sun screen)!!! My skin looks so much healthier now that I have not been tanning for two years. I am definitely white but I have gotten so many compliments on how good my skin looks and it was compounded even more with my recent dermatologist visit. I am a converted believer in sunscreen. Where I used to lather on baby oil, I now am lathering up with SPF 60. I look younger now that my skin is not so dark and I just generally feel better now that I am not tanning like I used to. Granted, a few weeks ago, regardless of the sun screen that Tim and I slammed on, we both had a couple of missed spots that we got a little bit pink. And in Hawaii, even though we will be applying suncreen, I'm sure we will still get some rays. That, I think, is ok. It's just the excessive tanning that I used to do, and I know many people still do, is not ok... at least in my opinion.
Everyone knows and has heard the dangers and risk of sun exposure and how it can lead to skin cancer. I know from my experience after having about 10 moles removed and being an excessive tanner for several years of my life that it's just not worth it. Hopefully I never get diagnosed with skin cancer. You never know, but I'll do whatever I can now to prevent it, regardless of my ignorance and stupidity before. I did have a conversation with a lady in the dermatologist's office a year or two ago and she said, "If you don't take care of your skin now, no matter how dark you are, it's not a matter of if you get skin cancer, it's when." Yikes.
I don't need to preach here. I'm just excited that my skin looks so good and feels so good, that I heard such great news from the derm, and that all of it is a result of being totally natural and taking care of my body. It just feels so much better than being tan ever felt.
And here's my plug for all of you sun/fake-bakers out there, from a former fake-baker. DON'T TAN (and wear sun screen)!!! My skin looks so much healthier now that I have not been tanning for two years. I am definitely white but I have gotten so many compliments on how good my skin looks and it was compounded even more with my recent dermatologist visit. I am a converted believer in sunscreen. Where I used to lather on baby oil, I now am lathering up with SPF 60. I look younger now that my skin is not so dark and I just generally feel better now that I am not tanning like I used to. Granted, a few weeks ago, regardless of the sun screen that Tim and I slammed on, we both had a couple of missed spots that we got a little bit pink. And in Hawaii, even though we will be applying suncreen, I'm sure we will still get some rays. That, I think, is ok. It's just the excessive tanning that I used to do, and I know many people still do, is not ok... at least in my opinion.
Everyone knows and has heard the dangers and risk of sun exposure and how it can lead to skin cancer. I know from my experience after having about 10 moles removed and being an excessive tanner for several years of my life that it's just not worth it. Hopefully I never get diagnosed with skin cancer. You never know, but I'll do whatever I can now to prevent it, regardless of my ignorance and stupidity before. I did have a conversation with a lady in the dermatologist's office a year or two ago and she said, "If you don't take care of your skin now, no matter how dark you are, it's not a matter of if you get skin cancer, it's when." Yikes.
I don't need to preach here. I'm just excited that my skin looks so good and feels so good, that I heard such great news from the derm, and that all of it is a result of being totally natural and taking care of my body. It just feels so much better than being tan ever felt.
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