What a relief!

So I announced last week that I would be starting this week with a change. Well it's happened and it went so much better than I had expected.

For the last two and a half years I have worked in a very busy grocers. Last Thursday I made the decision that it was time to resign from my position there. For a long time I have been thinking about this and it was important for me to have a back up income when I made this decision. Having just taken on my second part time job at Smiggle a couple of weeks ago made doing this much easier. I had thought that for the summer that I would be able to balance two jobs, but ultimately this would have been far more difficult than I initially thought.

For the most part I have had an enjoyable time working there. I have learnt what it is to earn my money through sheer hard work. I have met some really interesting characters. I have made some good friends, and an enemy here and there. I have learnt how to deal with a number of differing personalities and needs, to ensure that at the end of the day everyone is left pleased. I have learnt of the very tight net work of successful Tasmanians. But in the past couple of months, it hasn't been enjoyable going to work and I had grown tired of the politics of the business and the disorganisation of it too.

So last week, after a little disagreement with one of the bosses, I decided that it was time to move on. Having spoken to a couple of friends they had all confirmed my thoughts, telling me "A, you should never feel worried about going to work, your new boss at Smiggle is approachable just the way any boss should be, not like your boss at the grocer who you are scared to approach." Over the weekend I was very restless and nervous about the reaction I would receive from my boss, but yesterday when I went to hand in my resignation I was met with well wishes for my new job and future, told of how much of an asset I had been, instantly invited to the Christmas party, how professional I had always been and that they always knew I would be wanting to achieve more. I was so flattered with the nice comments and somewhat shocked too as in all my time working there, I think I had only been given a compliment a couple of times! I won't miss much about the place, only my friends and I definitely won't miss my 5am starts on Mondays!

I honestly can say I love my new job, I look forward to going there each time I am rostered on, I feel challenged and I feel appreciated. I feel like I have had a massive weight lifted off my shoulders and I am so excited to be moving forward doing something that I really enjoy.

And we will raise our glasses to toast

This time in two weeks I will have handed my completed thesis in and I will hopefully be, and have been celebrating with friends and family. To be accurate, my thesis is due in about 13 days, on the 23rd of October. I expect that I will have it finished in about 10 days as it may take a couple of days for it to be printed- I need to have four copies and at the moment it will be 50+ pages! To have it ready for submission early would be wonderful and would be a load lifted off these very sore and tense shoulders of mine.

I am currently working through my first draft and the notes of my supervisor, making changes, re-writing and working to have a full and complete draft by Wednesday. That will leave me another 6-7days to finish it off. I am slowly ticking things off my "to finish" list. It's a nice feeling to be making some progress.

Yesterday I had my first day off in almost two weeks. I had a meeting with my supervisor, made some progress with my work, did some groceries for Mum and had a big nap in the afternoon sun. I have been fighting a cold this week and needed to catch up on some rest as well. I was also extremely tired as my sister and I had stayed up until midnight on Thursday to buy tickets to the Melbourne Big Day Out. We got through to entering our details and submitting our credit card numbers and then we were told that we would receive a confirmation email telling us whether our order had been successful or not. I couldn't wait up so went to bed and found out in the morning that our two tickets were on their way to us! I am very excited about next years show, the last Big Day Out I went to was in 2007, following a long term relationship break-up which hung like a big black cloud over my head the whole day. Next year's is going to be really fantastic, we are hoping to stay in St Kilda and have a couple of days hanging out and catching up with Melbourne friends.

I returned to work today and it was super busy again. It seems our new Smiggle store is just getting busier and busier as the days go by which is a great thing apart from our depleting stock levels which are making the shelves look a little bit sad! It is really fantastic to be back working somewhere that I love, selling something that I love and just being in the city. This evening it looked like I had missed out on a stunning day, but I have a feeling that there will be many more to come in the next few months.

The coming week has me working 5 shifts between my two jobs, with two full days off to do thesis, and two half days as well. I am going to be making a bit of a change in my life at the beginning of the week which I will announce to you all once I have done so. I am pleased with the progression that I will be taking, but at the moment, that is all I can really say! Ohhh secrets!

How has your week been? Any big life changes or progressions? I had best get back to my work, I hope that you all have a beautiful weekend, where ever you may be in this big wonderful world.

x

Hello Lovelies,

Sorry for being a terribly slack blogger of late, things have been so hectic and nearly all of my time has been eaten up with my thesis and work. I feel terrible for letting my lovely blog fall off the wagon, my journal is also suffering terribly which makes me feel a bit sad because I had promised myself that this year I would be a dedicated journaller and blogger. My hopes are that after I submit my thesis in two weeks time that I will be back on the wagon and writing and thinking a lot more!

For those you who do not follow me on Twitter, here is a brief re-cap of what has happened over the past couple of weeks:

- I attended a friends house party where we were all rather terrible with our alcohol consumption, I was terribly sick for quiet a few days afterwards. I am slightly ashamed to admit this, but am doing so as a reminder to myself and everyone else that it really isn't cool to have a massive binge! My next drinking session will be more controlled!

- Almost two weeks ago I got a phone call from Smiggle asking me to go to Melbourne the next day to do two days worth of training! I was so excited to receive this call and consequently ran around the house wrapped only in my bath towel jumping for joy! The funny part is that it was 8.30am and we live two houses away from a primary school so parents taking their children to school probably saw me leaping around in the front room half naked- nice one! Anyway I headed off to Melbourne on the Thursday morning and returned on the Friday evening. I got put up in a hotel just near the shopping centre where I was trained. I got to see my Aunt for dinner who lives in a neighbouring suburb and also one of my Uncles which was really nice! I bought myself a couple of treats while I was over there too. I had been eyeing off a couple of Mimco bags online and ended up purchasing this one, it was a good sale and it's beautiful in real life. I love Mimco products, they are all stunning. I also got myself a few goodies from Kit , I especially love their nail polishes. I met up with one of my friends who had been doing some work in Melbourne at the airport as we were on the same flight home, we had a catch up and glass of bubbly before our flight left. It was a terrible flight home, so bumpy. I also got to meet my new Smiggle manager at the airport which was nice! During my time in Melbourne I realised how lucky I am living back at home. I do not miss the crazy traffic and the sprawl of the city, I do miss a couple of things like the variety of shops and cafes and my friends and family, but my heart is here for the time being and I am so lucky to live in this little paradise.

- I had a date with the boy I mentioned in my previous post. We had lunch at the beach. It was nice to catch up with him but I pretty much knew from the outset that it wouldn't go any further than that. Lovely guy, but not for me.

- A few friends have had birthday celebrations in the last few weeks so it has been good to catch up with everyone as I know the next couple of weeks are going to be spent working and thesising which means that I am going to be a hermit!

- Smiggle opened last Thursday. It was a hectic week leading up to the opening, with a two day set-up of the store and then a big opening weekend. I had a heap of fun and it is great to be back working with something that I really like and doing something that I actually enjoy too! I am just doing one day a week at the grocer's now which suits me just fine as I didn't know that Smiggle would be needing me so much!

- Thesis is due in just over two weeks. I had aimed to have a full draft completed two weeks ago but that didn't happen. I am hoping that tonight I can send it off to my supervisor to have a look at before we meet up again on Friday. There are parts of it that I am really happy with and then there are a couple of parts that I am really unhappy with! I have found that since I have been working more that the time I have been spending on my thesis has been far more productive than I had been before which is good.

On that note, I must be off, just thought that I would write a quick little update and I promise that once uni is finished for the year that I will be that dedicated blogger that I had anticipated I would be!

I hope that you are all well!