The Fabulous Life of Stefanie

I just accepted a job offer! I am going to be the newest Case Manager at Community Work Services . I am so excited to be back in the real world and, more importantly, back to helping people! I think that this job is going to mesh really well with where I am at in my life. The work day always ends at 4:30, there is early release on Fridays and the day before holidays (of which there are 11 paid!), and there are no weekends or on-call shifts. This schedule is awesome because right now all I want to focus on (aside from work) is being married and jumping back into volunteering. Now that I am not directly working with the prison population I plan on joining an organization that goes into the prison to do tutoring and mentoring with inmates; this is something I have wanted to do for years but did not want to burn myself out by doing it in addition to my work with them. I am also going to diligently seek a board that I can become a member of, hopefully in the area of animal or child welfare....

I quit my job. Or, as I explained to a friend yesterday, I totally "Jerry Maguire'd" out of that place. I was miserable, not because of the work, but because of a boss that thought yelling and pointing and degrading people was a proper mean of communication. I went to HR. Then I called them. Ad I emailed them and nothing happened. Other people went, staff walked out of his office in tears and he continued his completely unprofessional behavior. It would not stop. So, in a meeting where I had a lot to say, he came in uninvited and took it over with his negative words and violent behavior, and I realized I could not do it anymore. My anxiety took over and I thought I would pass out, so instead, I stood up and walked out. Poof. I was gone. It was not an easy decision and it is by far the most spontaneous and irresponsible thing I have done in quite some time, but I am now totally, completely sure that it was the best way to handle the situation. I am less than two months awa...

It's that time of year! You know, when everything is getting warm and the sun is setting a little later and it's so exciting, except for those horrible allergies that make you look like you slept once last week and got punched in the face a bunch and sound super-not-sexy. I am not complaining, I am just saying, I HATE allergies. Ugh. I feel totally sick today and got negative sleep last night. Of all the times in my life I cannot be getting sick! I have a wedding to plan! Not to mention the need to kick my ass at the gym for dress shopping and the engagement shoot and my bridal shower! Go away pollen!!! But really, our wedding is so super close now that I am starting to get into some sort of zone. Sometimes I start looking at websites for dresses or hairstyles or shoes and I lose entire hours. Hours! My Mom is going to be here in a few weeks and we have 3 appointments booked for me to try on dresses and she gets to be here for my shower, which is so super awesome and is all bec...

We leave tomorrow! I am so excited to go back, on the three year anniversary of the last time I went, and see the progress that has been made. I am prepared to see that it has not progressed as much as I hope, but I am going there knowing that I get to help move it along, even if it is just a small piece of progress. I am most excited for Matty to experience something that was so crucial to my healing from my past and making me the person I am today. We are going to be doing all sorts of projects - building houses and community gardens, helping with clean up and hopefully something with another agency at a soup kitchen or school. We are also going to have a whole lot of fun - this is the first time I am staying past the volunteer days just to have fun - and we already have a four hour bike tour in the Ninth Ward booked as well as tickets to see Rebirth Brass Band! We are so, so fortunate to have raised so much money to get us there - and we can't thank everyone enough for making th...

We are getting ready to head to Matty's Aunt's house for the annual O'Shea Easter Brunch (note the picture of the awesome cupcakes I made!). There will only be seven of us this year (yes, I said only, read on), but I can't wait to see everyone and eat some of Jane's amazing cooking. Easter is a very important holiday for us Catholics, and even more for us Catholics over on Quint Avenue. I present to you, an Easter story: Two years ago today Matty and I went to Church together for our first time. I was a pretend Catholic (having never been baptized or through Catechism) who hadn't been in a Catholic Church in a long time, and had never been with another person since moving to Boston. Matty had been away from the Church for a while for a lot of the reasons young Boston-bred Irish Catholics stop going to Church. We both decided we wanted to go together, and since our schedules were pretty crazy back then (Matty worked nights, I worked bankers hours), Easter turned ...

This is true, and I really do want to change it. I love having somewhere to track my adventures and share my life and I like looking over past blogs and most of all, I love keeping up with people by reading their blogs and get sad when they don't post regularly (hello hypocrite I am!). So, instead of droning on about why I haven't been blogging enough, let's play catch up and move forward with a better blogging habit! Here are the most important things I have been up to (aside from partaking in my famous Peep-tinis last night, which I have posted as a reminder to stay away from sugar today to avoid diabetic shock): Planning our wedding! Everything is going smooth - we have a Church, a reception (at the other Church), a stationary company that makes everything with bikes on it, and two people who are insanely in love. Now we are focusing on getting the money in our savings account, which is by far the least fun and most stressful part of wedding planning, but we are getting...

I was standing in my kitchen yesterday, cooking this beef stroganoff recipe that I got out of Real Simple Magazine and secured safely in my new Recipe Book (thanks Santa Mom!), and an overwhelming feeling of contentment whooshed over me. The thing about New Years is that no matter how much you love or hate resolutions and such, it's definitely the time of year where you both reflect back and look forward, and as if you can't even help yourself, new goals are made and old ones are checked off. Last year was simply, truly, definitively amazing . I celebrated a year of pure bliss with Matty on the same day he asked me for the rest of my years and put a beautiful pink couldn't-be-more-made-for-Stefanie ring on my finger. I travelled to places I had never been - Maine, the Cape, Martha's Vineyard, Chicago - and places I had - Reno, New York, San Francisco. I managed to celebrate a whole year at one job (!) while continuing to progress and move forward in my career goals (wh...