Home Again

We're back home safely. We have been since late Monday morning, but as with all traveling, getting back into the swing of things has been harder than getting ready to leave. That's especially true when there wasn't time to wash the sink full of dishes before the trip, so you're now faced with the decision: wash them like a nice wife so your husband doesn't have to deal with the smelly sink even though it's in his vows OR lay on the couch and watch The Bachelor in between unpacking? Obviously I did the latter.

It was a really good trip. Driving 17 hours there was actually a lot of fun, I feel like I kicked ass in all of my interviews, Ben and I had time to do some fun things, and then we drove 17 hours back home which wasn't bad either. It was a whirlwind since we were actually only in Memphis for 2 1/2 days, but it was meant to be a business trip and we made it even better. I'm definitely glad that Ben came with me and I'm so thankful that the work side of things went well. Meeting people in my field was so much fun and it really made me feel like this is where I belong; this is what I'm supposed to be doing right now. Nothing was decided, as these were all preliminary interviews, but I'm feeling good about the whole thing.

I brought my mini-Instax camera with me to take pictures the whole time because I'm sick and tired of being attached to my phone. That being said, I did take a few just so I could have electronic pictures to share, so here they are:  

I had a few breaks in between interviews, so we spent that time relaxing on the fluffy hotel bed and eating sour gummy worms. It balanced out my crazy busy days [I'm looking at you, 8 interviews on Friday & 5 on Saturday]. Also, I was scared for our road trip, if we're being honest. 17 hours stuck in a car together is intense, even when you really really like the person you're riding with. Turns out, I had nadda to worry about. Making videos and being weird together and eating junk food really helps the time go by faster.

Like I said, there were a lot of interviews. But I researched all of the positions, had a cheat sheet for each school, and rocked them like nobody's business. So thankful for that. After all was said and done on Friday night, I remembered a BBQ recommendation from one of my interviews, so we drove right down the road to a little hometown place, got the secret thing on the menu and inhaled it all. Those homemade nachos were so damn good.

Final evaluation of the road trip to Memphis: success. 

Now for the fun part of catching up on homework and waiting to hear about the jobs.

The part that's pretty damn hard if you have no motivation and no patience.

seven little Quigley things

*inspired by the ever lovely Elizabeth

1. Valentine's Day was sweet and relaxed, as per usual with us. Ben has been interning at the company I work for, so we snuck off in the middle of the day for a long lunch break at Five Guys, complete with bacon cheeseburgers and delicious fries. He had to leave for night class right when we got home, so I hung up his gift paintings right by his desk and did homework until he got home. He gave me a sweet note and my favorite snacks & we ended the night watching Valentine's Day, the cheesiest movie ever.

2. I've been in a music funk lately. Meg posted a video of The Lone Bellow the other day, so they're on while I type, and I'm digging it. Once this is finished, I'm going to check out Alabama Shakes again, since they were on SNL this weekend. If anyone has some suggestions, I'm all ears.

3. I've joined Vine. Amy convinced me yesterday afternoon and I made my first little video last night. I'm not yet sure how I feel about it, but you can follow along if you'd like. I think my name is @wildchild_jack, like normal? Or it might just be Jackie? New things confuse me.

4. My college roommate came into town this weekend and it was so good to see her. It was a short visit because she lives 5 hours away and only had off for the weekend, but we still had fun. It's nice to see that things don't change even after almost a year. We slipped right back into our routine of drinking too much, making late night mac & cheese, and watching so many movies. She's a good one, that Lacey Blue.

oh, and we had our last kickball game on Saturday, so Ben pulled out the big guns: 

striped footie pj's.

5. One of Ben's Air Force friends works for Southwest Airlines and gave us some Buddy Passes yesterday! That means in the middle of March, we will be headed for Houston to see my sister-and-brother-in-law and my nephew to be! I don't remember if I mentioned it, but Ben's sister is pregnant with her first little baby, due in July, and we are so excited to make the trip down to see them before things get crazy. Even better: it was free. Even even better: it's a guarantee that it will be warmer there than it is here. Our warm blooded bodies can't wait.

6. Target is where it's at for spring clothes. I went in yesterday with this one skirt in mind and found a bunch of dresses while I was at it too. I'm beyond excited for spring to get here. Birds were chirping this morning as we were waking up, so that's a start.

7. Tomorrow, Ben and I are Tennessee bound! I'm headed to a job fair in Memphis and I talked Ben into coming along. It's a 17 hour trip for us, so we got some books on tape for the ride and we're staying with a family friend in Ohio tomorrow night to break the trip up.  I'm also hoping that my antsy self can survive 17 hours in a car there and 17 hours back. That should be interesting. This placement exchange is for exactly the type of job I'd like and I have 7 interviews lined up so far, so I'm pretty excited about it. I'm also nervous. It's a big deal. I'm doing my research and I feel pretty confident in interview situations, but these aren't some little interviews to work at the pizza shop; this is my career. So we'll see. I'd appreciate some prayers & good thoughts, if those are your thing.

That's it! I'm off to pack and get a quick hair cut before settling in to do some research and catch up on The Bach. I hope all of you friends have a wonderful Tuesday night. See you in a week or so.

All of the Love: Our Wedding Video

Today is one of my favorite days of the year. A whole day devoted to telling people how you feel about them? That's obviously my thing.

As I've said a thousand times both here and in real life, our wedding day was my favorite day ever because all there was was love. Everywhere, everyone, all day long. Our videographer very nicely reformatted our wedding video so I could upload to Vimeo and today, you get to see all of that love yourself. So without further ado, here is my favorite video in the world, by the wonderful Jonny Capuano. I would save this thing from a burning fire in a heartbeat.


Our Wedding Video! from Jackie Quigley on Vimeo.

Snow Day!

 

from here 

Just like every other north eastern state, we're getting buried in snow right now. I got sent home from work early and made sure to stop at Tops to get water bottles, beer, and a bag of Bugles. The snow day essentials, right?

This weekend is Ben's Air Force drill weekend, so we have plans to head up to Niagara Falls tonight [where his base is] and spend the weekend there. There's a big going away party for a bunch of guys in his shop because they're getting deployed in just two weeks and that's a party I don't want to miss.

Butttt if it's declared that we're in a State of Emergency and drill is cancelled, I won't be too disappointed to snuggle up all weekend, drink tons of hot chocolate in our already freezing cold apartment, and watch all the Netflix we can handle.   

What are your weekend plans? Anything good? Everyone stay safe out there!

A Day in the Life

This post title is a little misleading, because I can't actually tell you what goes on in a typical day of my life. That sounds really sketchy, like I'm a secret agent or something, but really, I just have a lot going on.

Ben and I are both doing the school thing, we started a tiny social media consulting business on the side, and we're fitting in fun when we can. Last week, we took a night and some Christmas gift cards to grab drinks after work and catch up with an old friend. Friday night, we celebrated my almost sister-in-law's birthday with Chili's and sibling bowling, where my little sister and I got asked if we were twins AGAIN. Saturday & Sunday were family time, homework, and crafting, and today, I worked on Etsy orders all morning and am applying to jobs this afternoon.

Things are crazy right now, but we're handling it. Amidst the papers and to-do lists, we're sneaking in kisses and a few minutes of dreaming about the future. I'm not sure if I've mentioned it here before, but all of the jobs I'm applying to are out of state. Our families are here in New York, but we want to try somewhere new. Somewhere warm and different! So, I'm going for California, Hawaii or any southern state. We've agreed that if I don't land a job, our consolation prize will be moving to Austin, TX. Either way, we're trying to make the most of our last winter in New York and cherish the time that we have with our families now.

I think we're making the most of it.

apologies for those two blurry pictures- who knew that bowling alleys don't have good lighting?

the first again

As I said last year, this is one of my favorite months of the year.

There's so much love floating around, sometimes I just feel like my heart is going to explode. I hope this February, you all have someone who makes you feel like the luckiest girl alive, whether it's a romantic kind of love or not.

In that train of thought, my Etsy giveaway ended last night and...

 Congratulations Cassie! Expect an e-mail in your inbox later this afternoon. I can't wait to see what you choose.
And for those of you who'd still love to get something, use the code: monthoflove to get free shipping for the whole month of February. That's saving $3 on my heart banner that you all loved, or 50 cents on any card, which I think is a deal.

I think that's everything for now! I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and I'll see you all sometime next week.