Closing the Circle on 42.

Well, it's the first anniversary of my little 42. blog, and I think it's a good time to close shop here.

I've got a decent number of entries for the year, and this blog is testament to the tremendous life changes I've created and/or experienced in the last year, including:

--relocating from my lifelong home of Nebraska to one of the Top 5 largest cities in the US

--quitting a job I worked at for 19 years and thought I would probably work at until I retired or they laid me off (more on that in a sec)

--realizing that I need to take control of my career, rather than assume a corporation is going to do so

--leaving immediate family as well as friends (some of whom I've had since high school) for a city where I knew no one, and finding out I can still make new friends, even in my 40s

--confirming my lifelong assumption that I truly did marry my best friend, and that we'll celebrate 20 years of this event in September 2013

--transitioning (over the last six years, though it was all part of a process) from an 1,800+ square foot house with two-car garage that we owned, to a two- bedroom apartment we rented in the downtown of an urban area (a huge transition in and of itself), to a one-bedroom apartment we rented in a major urban area, and realizing it's all for the better and what I really wanted all along but was afraid to say so

--getting rid of my car and ceasing to be a regular driver, for the first time in 28 years. It's been almost ten months since I last drove a car and I couldn't be happier!

--learning that it's not too late for a do-over, and that old (or middle-aged) dogs still can learn new tricks

--finding my voice, in more ways than one

The closing of this blog comes at a good time. I started a new job this week, as you know, and it is terrific so far (and amazing to me, if for no other reason than to prove to myself that I could do it). Also, I learned just yesterday that my former employer (parent company) has sold the life insurance subsidiary I used to work for, to a third party from the UK. As a result, many of my friends have lost/will be losing their jobs, and I am sad for them, but also happy for myself that I chose to separate from the company on my own terms.

(Not that I blame anyone who didn't handle it the way I did. It was generally a decent place to work and they made it easy to stay there. This is something all of us have seen before, on some level, and we knew/know it was/is always a possibility. I hope the company honors the severance packages it has traditionally offered in situations like this. My 20th anniversary with the company would have been in May, had I still been there, and while I would have enjoyed the Movado watch I was going to get, I promise you that I enjoy my new life outside of the company even more.There IS life after the "Hands" company, and it's good. You'll see. Best of luck to you all.)

Boycat just pee'd on the bed, which is also appropriate (or at least expected) in light of his recent circumstances. Sigh. It's always something.

But before I go, a couple more brief comments.

Keeping 42. for a year has helped me work through many issues in a way that only writing things down can do. Several years ago, Mr. 42's mom gifted us with a copy of an amazing book called Write It Down, Make It Happen by Henriette Klauser. She had read it and talked about the "proof" of it she had experienced in her life. Mr. 42 and I both read it and began putting it to work.

The author ascribes the power of it to a more "spiritual" influence than I probably would, being an atheist (or agnostic, depending on which day you ask me), but I have always been a firm believer in the power of the written (or typed) word. Many times I have observed that I and others can speak our truth through the written word in a way that we can't articulate verbally, even to people we love and trust. Sometimes it means we speak this truth only to ourselves, but often it is only to ourselves that it needs to be spoken to. That is the lesson I took away from Write it Down. If you want to believe that putting your intentions on paper sends them out into the universe (or to God, or to the Gods and Goddesses) in such a way that they simply must happen, I'm okay with that. As I said above, depending on what day you ask me, that might be the explanation I would give, too. Other days, it seems that writing things down (or typing them, even) helps YOU as the writer to clarify what you really want. It makes you focus on something in a way that helps it transition from being a pleasant, occasional passing thought ("Wouldn't it be nice if ...") to something you have thought about, written about, clarified, confirmed and are now making plans for.

Writing it down doesn't mean it will happen right away, or in exactly the way you had planned. This is how Philadelphia happened for us. We had our sights set on Boston, and life threw us a few curveballs that meant that wasn't going to happen when we wanted. What we didn't know at that time was that things wouldn't happen in Boston at all, but having lived here in Philly for ten months now, I am positive we ended up in the place where we were meant to live. (XOXO to Boston friends. Let's get together soon!)

What took place throughout that process (and for a good six months before we even began telling people of our plans): thoughts about what we wanted in a new city and how we wanted to live when we got here. Articulated on paper. Written down, more than once, across several notebooks and in two laptops. Refined and revised and reaffirmed, constantly.

Here in Philadelphia, a full 25 months after our notes about moving and starting a new and different life in a big city first began, I am here to tell you: it works!

Thanks to everyone who has followed this blog and taken time to comment or even just "like" on FB. I plan to take a short blogging break before beginning anew somewhere else (probably in Tumblr and in a completely different frame of mind).  Cheers!--Ms. 42

So Far, So Good

Things are going well so far at the new job. Granted, it's only my second day. People seem nice. The office is in a great location. Dress code at the new office is business casual, though everyone is dressed a little more formally than we interpreted business casual back in Nebraska. But it doesn't appear pantyhose are required with dresses and skirts (hooray) and I have enough "formal" business casual clothes to get by for a bit. I already have a blister from one of my new pairs of shoes. Go figure.

One of my favorite new blouses for work, which I love because it looks like a scarf!  :-) 

Things are a little stressful and overwhelming, as they would be with any new job, but it feels good to be back on track. It's only my third night of doing so, but getting up early and getting to bed at a decent hour, instead of keeping an erratic schedule, certainly has its merits. (Sadly, I had to skip an 80s karaoke night last night, since I now have to be up early. I do hope I'll be able to squeeze one in every few weeks or so. Monday nights are either totally fun tourist crowds, full of folks ready to party on a weeknight, or totally quiet nights with very few singers, which are also fun because I get to sing a whole bunch of songs and almost no one is there to hear when I'm lousy.)

My boss took me out for lunch on Monday to an Asian restaurant, and this was the fortune in my fortune cookie. Sexist language aside, it's highly applicable at this moment in time for all sorts of reasons.

(Also appropriate because we're in Philadelphia and this is a Benjamin Franklin quote.) 

I planned to begin walking to and/or from work for the new job, but the heat wave and humidity this week are holding me back. I don't want to have to wring the sweat out of my clothes at work (ha!) after walking in the morning, and the hottest part of the day is usually between 4:00 and 6:00, which is when I would be walking home. I am somewhat of a pansy in the heat, so I'm grateful for SEPTA. Things are supposed to cool off a little over the weekend. Hopefully I can start walking (a.k.a. built-in exercise) next week.

Boycat had another little cystitis flare-up on my first day, but he's still on the buspirone, so we're just making sure he gets plenty of water and waiting it out.  (We did give him a little bit of pain medicine last night, too, but he is already doing better and I don't think he'll need it tonight.) Am I kidding myself to believe my return to full-time work caused him anxiety? I know he loves me and misses me. I really hope I am not the cause of his suffering.

I have no doubt the days will soon begin flying by. Heck, they kind of flew by even when I wasn't working full-time and could spend my time how I chose. Only two days in, and it already feels like I've slid back into the weekday groove I had for 2011 and the first eight months of 2012. I had no idea our move would essentially be an unplanned "gap year," but since I didn't get to take one after graduating high school or college, it was nice to have one in my 40s.

So, yeah. Kinda boring but I know some of you wanted to know how it's going. It's going well, and most importantly, it's going!  :-)

My Last Day of Freedom

Today is my last (week) day of freedom. I return to work full-time on Monday, 7/15.

As excited as I am about the new job and about getting back into a regular routine, and in spite of the occasional stress of not having a full-time income since early September 2012, I'm feeling a bit sad today for the loss of my free time that will come next week.

All this past week, Mr. 42 and I have been doing fun stuff that we won't be able to do when I'm working full-time again:

Mr. 42 and a fresh pitcher of Pimms and Sunshine, National Mechanics

• Leisurely lunches at off hours that included beer
• Getting tipsy in the late afternoon before Happy Hour even starts 
• Two karaoke nights
• Our first trip to the King of Prussia Mall, which is America's largest shopping center. It ended up being a seven-hour ordeal for which we had little to show but a couple of shirts from a clearance rack. Three of those seven hours were spent on buses to get there and back. The mall was huge but just a typical mall, which means 85% of the stores are ones I'll never set foot in--clothes for kids and teens, baby goods, home furnishings and decor that are not my style, etc. Another 2% were large department stores, all of which had many of the same things. The other 13% were stores that we have here in Center City within walking distance. Neither of us see any need to revisit the KOP anytime soon. (If we can't find something here in Center City, it probably means we don't need it.)
• Boring but important errands I ran on weekday mornings and afternoons that can suck up entire weekends, like getting haircuts, going to the drugstore, grocery shopping, etc. 

Still on tap: a weekday movie matinee today; walking up to my new office in order to time the walk and see what interesting shops and restaurants are in the area; painting or crafting of some kind.

I wouldn't say I've made particularly good use of my time off. I didn't complete any major projects people always say they will do, like writing a novel. I didn't establish a regular exercise routine. My apartment is not organized from top to bottom nor free of any specks of dust. 

A series of miniature paintings I completed in June

I haven't entirely wasted that time, either. I got some arts and crafts done that were very satisfying. I did lots of writing, both here and for my freelance job. I read some great books and saw some amazing movies. I went to some concerts that were fantastic. I learned how to code in HTML, as opposed to just not goofing up the existing code. I learned basic Javascript and Prezi. I explored my new city and learned how to get around in it, on foot, by train and by bus. I have new favorite restaurants, bars and museums I will visit again and again. I met lots of people and made some new friends. I spent a lot of time thinking about what I want and don't want in my life.

One of the best books I've read in a while

A Prezi I created as a demo for potential employers

To be honest, there was not as much "leisure time" in there as I expected. Hunting for a job really is a full-time job. Some online job applications take an hour or more to complete, even if you already have all your past job info, salary history and reference contact info lined up. Phone interviews and face-to-face interviews require a great deal of preparation. Plus, I still had (and will have) my part-time/freelance job, seven days a week.  

In this last month and a half, I was just getting to the point that most people probably won't see until retirement (and maybe not even then), where time itself was becoming meaningless. I was waking and sleeping when I felt like it, eating when I wanted to and giving my days only the loosest of structure. I would think a lot of time had passed and discover only 30 minutes had passed. I would think it was still early in the afternoon and discover it was somehow 4:00 PM already. I remember my late MIL could never recall what day it was, not due to dementia or absent-mindedness, but because her days had no structure after she retired and she stopped looking at the calendar. Birthdays and holidays went by and she didn't always realize it, so they were celebrated (or not) when they were remembered. I am unsure how much longer it would have taken me to get to that point, and whether or not that would be a good way to live. 

Overall, I'm calling the time between September 2012 and mid-July 2013 a brief period of semi-retirement, filled with fun and adventure and a little anxiety. It looked a lot like my own parents' retirement has looked so far. To some degree, I regret not spending that time more wisely, but I realize, too, that it was a luxury I probably won't get to enjoy again for a long time. It has definitely taught me the value of time as I go forward. 

Time to take a nap before we catch that movie. 

My Favorite Things: The Tek Bracelet

This is my most-worn piece of jewelry after my wedding ring, which makes it one of My Favorite Things. I call it the Tek Bracelet.

"Tek" is short for Tekla, and Tekla was Tekla Allen, a family friend since I was a child. She was always called Tek for as long as I knew her, which I found strange as a child, though I found the fact that it was a nickname for "Tekla" even stranger. Tekla was one of those names like Opal and Edna and Ethel that children of the 1970s would encounter only on grandmothers and great aunts.

Tek is from the small town where I grew up, and she was an amazing woman. She married well, to a local pharmacist who also owned his drugstore which, incredibly, still had an operating lunch counter through the early 1980s. (I assure you it was quaint even back then.) They had a nice 1950s-era ranch home filled with original mid-century modern furnishings. Antiques at that time still trended toward the Victorian and the Depression eras. The nice Danish modern stuff Tek had was considered too recent and unfashionable in the late 1970s when she became a widow and sold the house and much of its furnishings to move into a senior apartment complex. I'm sure a lot of it went for a steal and oh, how people including my parents would pay through the nose for that stuff today!

I met Tek when she was still incredibly spry for a woman in her 60s--one whose mother was still alive, living independently in her late 80s and almost equally spry. Tek still dressed to the nines, wearing little heels and stockings, with scores of handbags and incredible jewelry. Lots of chunky bracelets, big bead strands and pendants and fancy clip-on earrings. I saw pictures of Tek from the 1950s, doing upper-middle-class housewife-ly things like shopping downtown and attending charity social events. She was always wearing fox pieces, little hats and white gloves.  Style was important to her and seemed to come naturally to her.

She gave birth to one son who was also a friend of my parents (and much closer to their age), which is how we all met Tek. The son died young--at just 42--of MS, but Tek was such a neat lady that her daughter-in-law would continue to take care of her for the rest of her life, even though they were no longer related and even after she had married a second husband. Tek moved to live near them when she got older and eventually moved in with them when she was in her 80s.

By chance, her death happened just a few days before I had planned a visit home. I lived hours away by that time and I don't know if I would have driven home to attend the funeral, but I was happy it worked out that I could attend. My mom was helping the ex-daughter-in-law clear out some of Tek's things after her death, and the woman sent home with her a big bag of costume jewelry from one of Tek's many jewelry boxes.

We each picked a few pieces and wore them to Tek's funeral the next day, to honor her. The Tek Bracelet is one of the pieces I chose.

I wore it (and still wear it) often and it always brings complements. It goes with any outfit and adds a touch of class to even t-shirts and jeans. The bracelet is not a precious metal and appears to be stainless steel. It has no brand markings on it but is probably something like Sarah Coventry or Avon or something that would have been sold at the local department store. It has a spring hinge and is actually a little snug on me since I gained weight, though it still fits. It would probably fit as an armband on a skinny-armed person. I like the design so much I considered getting an armband tattoo of it at one point.

My mom saw how often I wore it and when she later found a yellow gold-toned equivalent at a garage sale, she bought it for me.

I like and wear both pieces, though I don't wear yellow gold jewelry very often.  And of course, the yellow gold-toned bracelet is not the Tek Bracelet, so it's less special.

I Saw It in Philadelphia: A Pig at the Pizza Parlor

Yes, it's a pig in a baby carriage. 

Dogs are not uncommon inside Philadelphia restaurants and coffee shops.  Many of the coffee shops actually keep dog biscuits at the counter for their canine visistors. There was a dog inside my hairstylist's studio one day, and we even saw a big dog inside Macy's once (he was on his way out as he and his owner had been asked to leave). 

This is the first pig I have seen inside a commercial establishment anywhere.

You can't see it, but it was a twin stroller and there was a (human) baby in the front seat, too. The nice woman who had the child and pig said she was pig-sitting for a friend and wasn't sure what kind of pig he actually was. 

This handsome little guy was named Scrappy, and we encountered him in a pizza parlor on South Street. He was adorable, if a bit shy.

Needless to say, we chose a veggie pizza for lunch after our encounter with Scrappy.  

Random Updates. Really Random.

The Stuff We Lost In the Move

One of our missing moving boxes from the move has been found, or some of it, anyway. It DOESN'T appear to be the box with the photos, but we're waiting for a little more info. If it's the clothes and shoes, we have already replaced 'em and don't have room to store much extra, so we probably won't worry about getting it back. From what we know so far, it's a partially-full box only, which means someone probably picked through it and took whatever they wanted already.

The Job Hunt

Still hunting for a job and trying not to panic. Still have a little time, too, before I have to panic, but not much. I didn't start job hunting until the end of October, due to the move trauma and needing some time to get settled, so I've only been at it four months, but still. Ugh. My daily routine nowadays consists of going through all the job boards and LinkedIn each day to see if anything good has been posted, then going through the career sites of my "target" companies and seeing if they have anything new, or if I can find any new target companies to add to the list. I usually find two or three worth bookmarking or applying for every day, but not always. I keep hearing about how you're supposed to network, all these ridiculous bullshit guerilla job search tactics you can try (sending a package with a coffee mug AND your resume to the recruiter, etc.) and I just cringe. That is so not me. I also think how annoyed I would be as a recruiter or HR professional if people did that. Granted, HR pro's usually have a different personality and goals than I do. Maybe they truly are not annoyed by those tactics somehow. Or maybe those tactics work if you're in some creative field like Advertising, or you're in an industry that thrives on entrepreneurs, like a tech start-up. The financial services and insurance industries are notoriously conservative in many regards and I suspect they are in this one, too. I'm adding Philly contacts to LinkedIn as I can find them, but without working, I honestly haven't met that many folks here yet. My handful of karaoke friends are it, pretty much, BUT ...

Friends

... Two friends I have known for awhile just moved to Philadelphia this week. Yes!  :-)  One is an old friend from Lincoln, and the other is this person's sweetheart, whom I met for the first time in 2011. And you know the old shampoo commercial from the 1970s:  "They told two friends, and they told two friends, and so on, and so on, and so on ...?"  Umm, no details I can share yet but something like that is possibly in the works.  If nothing else, it is nice to have a few more friends here.

Coding and Networking

And in other professional developments: I have thoroughly ramped up on my HTML skills and am taking a class this weekend to learn JavaScript. I hope to make some new contacts there and meet a few other cool folks here in Philly. The coding knowledge couldn't hurt, either. I'm sure I won't know enough after that to get hired as a website developer (though I already know enough to be able to maintain some corporation's blog or update their website), but what I'm hoping is I'll learn enough to decide if I am interested in a change in career direction, and have an aptitude for it, which could prompt future educational choices, too.  I live very close to an ITT tech school if I want to get a certificate in something technical, plus there are all the other great colleges here (Drexel, Temple, Penn, etc.) if I want to pursue a Master's in something.

Complacency and You

Which brings me to another important point for everyone, but especially my friends and readers who still work where I used to work: don't get complacent.

Part of why it's taking so long for me to find a job out here is due to the high unemployment rate.  Philly, at 10.1%, is higher than the national average of 7.8%, and much higher than Nebraska's 3.7%.

Part of it, too, I have to accept responsibility for because I let myself get comfy in a job that I thought I'd probably work at for the rest of my life, and that was the wrong thing to do. We've all seen the firings and layoffs as jobs move overseas and lines of business get dropped.  There is no guarantee you'll have a job there in the future, and you don't want to wait until you get laid off to start preparing for your next job.

I didn't put much emphasis on my own development the last few years there, and I know many of you also are not doing this. I am thankful I already have a college degree, and I can't emphasize this enough: if you didn't finish your degree yet, make plans to get back in school as soon as you can, especially since the company offers tuition reimbursement. If you find yourself without a job, you'll be competing against many other people who are also looking for a job but who also have at least a Bachelor's Degree, and guess who won't make the cut? These days, employers want a Bachelor's even for non-skilled positions like being a receptionist at a dentist's office, for pete's sake! Check out a few job postings if you don't believe me.

For those of you with a degree already: step it up in other ways. Get that resume dusted off and ready to go. Build your network on LinkedIn if you haven't already. Get trained as a Six Sigma Green Belt or Black Belt. Start sitting in on technical meetings and learning project management. Learn Access and Brio and SAP Business Objects and any other technology you can get your hands on. Learn another branch of the business (Life, Annuities, Variable, etc.). Take any opportunity  you can get to learn something new at the company's expense, or even your own if you can afford it. (Wanna learn some programming skills? I do recommend Code Academy to start and it's absolutely free. Learn some basic HTML and you can start adding web parts to that lovely SharePoint site we used!)

Cute Cat Photos

Okay, I'll get off my soapbox. Umm ... how about some animal cuteness to lighten the mood here? Girlcat and Boycat say hello!

My Favorite Things: "Phantom of the Paradise"

Welcome to another episode of My Favorite Things.

This week, I'll share a corny movie that many of you have probably not heard of and have never seen, even though it was written and directed by an esteemed and well-established Hollywood figure, Brian de Palma.

This film is "Phantom of the Paradise."  (It is available via Amazon Instant Video for those interested.)

I first caught this on cable sometime in the mid-1990s, when I was home from work with the flu. At the time, I thought I had vague memories of it from the 1970s--either on TV or from reading about it in a magazine, but I would have been young and certainly didn't recall most of it if I had in fact seen it.

I was struck immediately by the sets, costumes, music and gore, all of which are ridiculously over-the-top and were presumably meant to be that way.  (Or not? It was early in de Palma's film career.) It was all very 1970s tacky and was hopelessly out-of-date at the time I was watching it, even thought he 1970s were very much cycling back around in the 1990s, in terms of fashion and music influence.

The sets were decorated by a then-unknown Sissy Spacek, and the music--all written and mostly sung by Paul Williams, who also stars as the film's sex symbol [yes!] and bad guy--was nominated for an Oscar.  My favorite performance was Gerrit Graham as Beef, in a deliciously campy send-up of 1970s glam rockers.

I watched the movie repeatedly during the two months it ran on cable.  Then I forgot about it.

Then it made the rounds on cable again in the late 1990s, and my obsession was born. This time I shared it with a few others, some of whom agreed with me that it was a masterpiece of kitsch.  (Some found it boring and ridiculous, of course.)

A friend bought me my first VHS cassette of it in the early 2000s. It was one of the first DVD's I bought when we upgraded to the new technology. Another friend made me a copy of the soundtrack from Napster (the soundtrack was not available in the US at that time and was obtainable only as a very expensive Japanese import).

And upon surfing the web, I was delighted to discover I am not the only person who thinks this movie is fantastic. It is a "midnight movie" that plays in a lot of places (kind of like Rocky Horror Picture Show) and there are websites devoted to it, annual fan conventions, highly-detailed reconstructions of the Phantom costume for sale, etc.

I actually got a chance to see it in a theater at the Dundee when we lived in Omaha, where it played as a midnight movie in October 2007. To my surprise, Mr. 42 and I were NOT the only people in the theater. There was a reasonably-sized crowd in attendance, possibly because the movie stars and contains the music of Paul Williams, who was born and raised in a suburb of Omaha.

I will admit it looked a lot cheaper and cheesier on the big screen than on my TV, and the film reel they had was in pretty bad shape, but it was still fun to see it in its original format, with popcorn.

The pièce de resistance in my Phantom collection is the original movie poster from the 1970s release, which Mr. 42 found for me at an antique store that was going out of business. It was professionally framed and marked down from $179 to $139 in the close-out sale. That's probably more than I would have paid, but it was wonderful to receive such a thoughtfully-chosen gift, and its bright colors and cheesy graphics have graced the living rooms of four different apartments now.  

67 Days

It has been 67 days since Mr. 42 and I last drove a car, which was the date we arrived in Philly and returned the very expensive one-way rental Mitsubishi Gallant we drove here.

That is without a doubt the longest I have ever gone without driving a car since I got my learner's permit at age 15. (Technically speaking, I started driving at age 14--not uncommon for rural Nebraska, where many kids learned to drive at even younger ages if they grew up on farms, which I didn't.)

During these 67 days, we have used the "leather express" (aka our feet) to get almost everywhere. We rode in a taxi to and from the art museum, and that was the only time we've been inside a car since our move. We have only used the subway three times. We rode a bus to and from Ikea.

An ATC I made in 2010. Watercolor and ink on Yupo.

We thought we would be making more use of public transportation here (and we might, someday) but we've also been pleasantly surprised at how many of the things we need to go/do/see/buy are within walking distance. My definition of "walking distance" has expanded a bit, too. If it's within a 30 minute walk and it's not raining/snowing, it's worth the walk.  It is possibly worth the walk up to 45 minutes. If we're talking an hour or more away, we look for some other way to get there or we just don't go (King of Prussia Mall, I'm talking about you)!

The day we gave our car to my niece and her husband--just a couple days before we moved--was one of the happiest days of my life. I've never been one of those folks who regard cars as a status symbol (though I'm not judging those of you who are this way, and I acknowledge that having had constant access to a car or even multiple cars since age 15 puts me in a relatively privileged position to begin with). Once I began my lengthy commutes between Omaha and Lincoln, I came to view cars and driving not as a privilege, but instead as a necessary evil and a pain in the butt. I am so excited to finally be living somewhere that doesn't require you to have a car in order to complete the most basic tasks of life. (Omaha had a bus system, sure, but let's be honest--it sucked.)

Life without a car here has proven challenging in some regards, especially for buying groceries and job hunting. I've had to let several good opportunities slide because they're in a suburb of Philly that is not accessible by public transportation. Plus, I did the lengthy-commute-between-cities thing for five years and I'm not eager to repeat the experience anytime soon.

I am firmly convinced, though, that all this walking is improving my mental and physical health and will trim some pounds off me. Eventually. As soon as I learn to resist the Spanish fries with Whiz...

Sweet and Sour

Sour:  The three boxes that went missing in the move could not be found.  After extensive searches at both the point of origin and point of destination, the moving company has officially confirmed that they're lost.

They were unable to explain how or why the boxes the moving company packed themselves and labeled with a large label that had our last name and order number, as well as the little orange sticker with our lot number, and which were logged on their official inventory and bill of lading as both received and shipped, just disappeared. (They think it occurred in the Omaha warehouse somehow but no other details beyond that.)

Someone stole them? They accidentally got packed into somebody else's crate? Who knows? 

Sweet: We got our settlement from the moving company today. Apparently, they can put a value of some kind on things like pictures which have mostly sentimental value. Plus, we had a definite value on the more practical items like clothes, shoes, etc, that were lost. At this point, I've accepted that the photos are gone and that we can't get them back, and I'm just glad to have it over with. Things could certainly be worse. I'm counting my blessings. At least the two of us, our two cats and most of our things arrived safely in the move. At least Hurricane Sandy didn't wipe out the photos plus everything else we had and leave us shivering in a cold, dark, wet apartment for two weeks.  

Sour: I found out today a job I had applied for and been really hopeful about was given to someone else.

Sweet: A recruiter from the same company contacted me about another job opening they have, and while I'm not interested (it's in a different city and I'm in no hurry to repeat the move experience anytime soon), at least someone is noticing my resume and I have a contact in HR at that company now.

Sweet:  A surprise bottle of expensive and beautiful perfume arrived in the mail today.  (On top of the Tauer bottle that already arrived!)

Sweet and Sour: I ate a hot dog topped with baked apple slices and cheddar cheese for lunch.  ;-)

Sweet: It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Woo hoo! (This is the street our apartment overlooks.)

Philly Fashion in Four Easy Pieces

Here's a totally frivolous entry free of kvetching about the move, free of politics, free of musings on my dying uncle, and free of hurricane-related humor and horrors.

One of the things I didn't like about Boston was the very "uptight" vibe that coursed through the city and even manifested in how people dressed. From the business formal attire (suits, hose, heels) of the company that interviewed me, to the School of the Museum of Fine Arts students who looked more like a J. Crew ad than art school students, I didn't see how I would fit in.

When we visited Philly last summer, we stayed in the business district, and all the ladies out on their smoke breaks and lunch breaks wore bare legs and comfy dress sandals or even flip-flops. We also happened to be a block or two from the Art Institute of Philadelphia, and day-glo hair, ripped tights, combat boots and the usual art-school drag were in full effect. I took all that as a sign that we were headed in the right direction.

In my 40s, I'm no longer comfortable dressing in garments that are too tight, too short or show too much cleavage/bare skin. Finding age-appropriate clothing is hard, but I'm not ready to resign myself to "Mom jeans" and white tennis shoes yet. Part of my wardrobe got lost in the move--shoes, belts, scarves, purses and clothing. I'm trying to put a positive spin on it and think of it as a chance to figure out how I want to dress.

I'll take a pass on one of Philly's most popular fashion trends--front thigh tattoos, which are about the last thing my dimply middle-aged thighs need--but I have enjoyed adopting these other Philly staples:

1) Skinny pants/leggings/jeggings--I had a couple of these in my wardrobe already, but have bought another pair since I moved here. Ross, Marshall's, H&M and Macy's all have plenty in all sizes and colors. (I always wear mine with a tunic or dress over them.)

2) Boots--Philadelphians wear boots, even in hot weather.   Short boots, tall boots. Cheap boots, fancy boots.  There's a strong preference for the cognac/tobacco/camel shades, but black and grey and any other colors are also acceptable. I had some great boots that got lost in the move, so I have treated myself to a couple new pairs, including the gorgeous brown leather beauties you see above. 

3)  Scarves--okay, those of you who know me know that I already love and wear scarves all the time. Some got lost in the move, but I've managed to hold my new acquisitions to just three so far, including this one. 

4) Zip hoodies--nothing ground-breaking here, but everyone has at least one of these, and they're a great equalizer. The ones from Old Navy look just like the ones from Gap or American Apparel.  (My hoodie is actually purple but I tinted the pic orange to match the other items in this entry.)

Now I just need an Eagles or Phillies or Sixers t-shirt and I'll look like a true Philadelphian.   

Omaha Bucket List: Henry Doorly Zoo

We visited Henry Doorly Zoo for what is probably the last time yesterday.

Mr. 42 grew up in Omaha and visited more than me, but I had relatives here and visited several times throughout childhood. We also came together as adults, and with our niece and nephew. A visit to the zoo was also a highlight of the Nebraska stay of my former co-workers from India.

Voted the #1 Zoo on TripAdvisor.com, it is a delight any time of the year. Yesterday's cool temps made for a comfortable visit, though we could have done without the rain that kept us trapped in some indoor exhibits longer than we would have liked.  We also opted to skip some of the exhibits we had seen before (rainforest, butterfly pavillion, aquarium) in favor of seeing some other animals we liked more (apes and cats).

So . . . #4:  Visit the Henry Doorly Zoo.   Check!  Pics below.

Two more items to cross off the list, hopefully after today:  #5: Scatter the ashes of Mr. 42's parents and #6: Eat a Godfather's taco pizza.  These two things are related, though not in a gross way or any way that you might think.  If all goes well, I'll be back to explain tomorrow.

Running Total: Omaha Bucket List

Omaha Bucket List:

1.  Give notice at work.


Office, consider yourselves served.   ;-)   I gave notice today and decided to designate Sept. 7 as my last day.  I was afraid if I waited until Sept. 14 as originally planned, I wouldn't be giving myself enough time to sort through and organize my crap, and that I wouldn't have as much time to spend with friends and family as I wished.

So, one item down. (Many  more to go.)

Next up:

2.  Put in notice at the apartment complex.

(The office manager is a friend of ours and already knows what's going on. We just need to make it official and fill out their little form.) Mañana, my friends.

And I promise there are more fun things on the Omaha Bucket List than these "honey-do's." Case in point:

3.  Put on my dancing shoes and go dancing one last time with The Jade Dog. Also mañana. Can't wait!