Full Moon Beach Party & Jason and Shannon's Visit!

Since Friday, John and I have had a very exciting weekend, and we’ve certainly been living it up during my last few days of freedom!  On Friday, John and I started off the weekend by accompanying our friends Heather and John to a full moon beach party.  It was pretty awesome.  We hiked down to this beach where everyone gathers each full moon around a giant bonfire.  Around the bonfire there were hundreds of people, many dancing and participating in a giant drum circle.  There were also flamethrowers, hula hoopers, and yoga masters.  Although probably one of the most stereotypical Southern California activities, it was really interesting and a cool experience!

One of the Flamethrowers 

Around the bonfire

On Saturday morning John and I went to a bar called The Field to watch the Champions League soccer final.  Jed and Jamile met up with us at the bar for lunch, and John was pumped when his favorite team, Bayern Munich, won the game!  After lunch, we met up with Jason and Shannon, our friends from San Francisco that were visiting San Diego for the weekend!  They were our first official visitors!  We had a great time with them over the weekend and were able to do so many fun things.

We started off their visit with a trip to Balboa park, where we enjoyed walking around the park, exploring areas like the cactus garden and rose gardens.  They really liked the park, and with it being one of John and my favorite places, we enjoyed showing it to them!  

After our Balboa tour, we were getting hungry so decided to eat at Hodad’s.  After standing in quite a long line, we were finally able to get in for dinner, and man, was it worth the wait!  The hamburgers were the best I’ve ever had (I ate my entire giant burger), the fries were wedged and extra crispy, and the onion rings were spectacular.  We were all stuffed afterwards, and with good reason – none of us could stop eating! 

After we finished dinner, it was the perfect time to head over to Sunset Cliffs in Ocean Beach to catch the sunset.  Unfortunately, there were a few too many clouds, so the sunset wasn’t too spectacular, but we still had a great time enjoying the sights at Sunset Cliffs.  We finished off Saturday night but going to a Hookah bar in the Gaslamp, which was a relaxing and enjoyable way to finish off a busy day.

On Sunday we decided to soak up the sun at Ocean Beach and spent our morning and early afternoon there!  It was a gorgeous day and the beach was packed for Memorial Day!  At around three, we began to get hungry and decided to check out one of our newest favorites, Blue Water Fish Market and Grill – I’ve written about it on here before – it’s incredible!  All the fish is caught fresh the morning of, never frozen, and is served to customers in sandwich, taco, salad, or plate portions.  Jason and Shannon loved it, too and we were all stuffed by the time we finished! 

We followed up our afternoon dinner with a beer tasting at Stone Brewing Company, one of San Diego’s most famous breweries.  San Diego is considered to be one of the best beer cities in the US.  We were able to try four different beers in a little keepsake souvenir glass.  It was really fun and something John and I haven’t done since we’ve been here, so it was a new experience for us as well!  After Stone Brewing, we decided to check out a place called Monkey Paw for some snacks.  John and I shared some really great waffle fries and a pretzel, while Shannon and Jason enjoyed Beer candied chicken wings. 

Coincidentally, Jason and John matched, and so did Shannon 

and I so we took weird prom pose pictures to capture the moment.  

After Monkey Paw, we decided to meet up with Jed, Jamile, and Brian at a really awesome place called the Shout! House.  This place was really cool, as the main entertainment was dueling pianos that play the crowd’s requests.  It was a neat place with a cool vibe, and it was definitely entertaining!  The piano players were so talented – not only could they play piano, but would also switch on and off of the guitar and drums, and could also sing beautifully.  And remember all the lyrics to the songs!  We finished off the night at the Shout! House and said our goodbyes to Jason and Shannon.

The Shout! House

Today John and I are enjoying our Memorial Day by getting some errands done before I start work tomorrow!  I also have some reading to do for my new job.  It’s my last day of freedom before I’m back to reality!  Enjoy your Memorial Day, readers, don’t forget to thank a Veteran!  :-)

I Got My Dream Job!

I want to firstly apologize for not writing in about a week, our lives have been a bit of a whirlwind these last few days!  And I can't wait to fill you in!

Last Thursday, I had an interview and was offered the job in the interview.  It was a great position, seemed interesting, had good compensation and some nice perks... the only downside was that it was about 45 minutes away, without traffic.  As I contemplated the job and desperately tried to figure out what the best decision would be, I just kept thinking to myself all the reasons why we moved in the first place.  A better quality of life.  That's it - the reason for our decision to move, to experience life on the road for seven weeks, to end up in California, all led back to one extremely simple, yet vital staple - increased betterment of life.  I was so conflicted with my decision to work for this company that in the mean time, I decided to make some life moves myself.

The prospect of accepting a position that didn't fit in to my "betterment of life" qualifications kind of scared me, and I didn't want to end up with any regrets.  I knew I had to make moves - and fast!  I only had several days to figure out... basically my LIFE!  Fortunately, there was a company that my mentor had told me to check out about a week prior called Digital Telepathy, and they had an opening!  Literally my DREAM JOB - Manager of Company Culture!  But I just hadn't been able to apply yet because everything had been so crazy (and I wanted to take the time to write an amazing wow-factor cover letter).

When I was offered the position during my interview on Thursday, I knew I needed to work fast.  I contacted my mentor and prior Bucks4Books manager, Chris, and explained my predicament.  Between his hard work and the Bucks4Books CEO, Bobby, I was able to start my application process.  Bobby sent a preliminary email to Digital Telepathy, and I began working on a cover letter to sweep them off their feet - I don't think I've ever put so much passion into a cover letter before.  I knew this was my one and only chance at getting this dream job position, and I was going to rock it (to the best of my abilities!)

After receiving my cover letter and corresponding with the team at DT a little bit, I was offered an interview on Tuesday!  I prepped myself and was ready on the big day.  I interviewed with two members of the team, and explained my situation with my other offer.  They said that after the interview they would discuss the prospect of me continuing on with the interviewing process and if I made it to the next round they would expedite the process for me - fantastic!  Shortly after my interview on Tuesday, I was sent the company's personality tests, and was offered an interview on Wednesday followed up with joining the team for one of their weekly lunches (they provide their staff with 2 lunches per week where all 23 employees gather around one long table and eat together - one of the many great perks of working with DT).  I was elated - I was so close to getting my dream job.

Wednesday morning I was sick with nervousness - I wanted the interview to go perfect, because bottom line, I wanted the position more than anything!  When I arrived at the office, my anxiousness dissipated, as I knew I needed to do my absolute best in this interview to even be considered.  My interview with the CEO went great!  I couldn't have been happier with myself, I have to say, I exceeded my personal expectations of myself!  The interview was followed up with a tour of the office, a short impromptu interview with the marketing team, and a delicious lunch where I was given the opportunity to meet and interact with the members of the team.

As I was about to leave the office after lunch, one of my interviewers pulled me aside and gave me a verbal offer for the position as long as my references checked out.  WOOO HOOOOOO!  I was ecstatic.  Although the other position that I had been offered was amazing, the commute would have been too much for me, and the position with DT is something I think I can really excel at and grow from.  I couldn't be more happy.  The office is right downtown in a really great area (John and I even looked into some apartments yesterday that I would be able to walk to the office from), there are amazing perks, paid health insurance, great team to work with, and the company's main focus is having its culture be the basis of every employee's experience.  The amazing thing is, among other responsibilities, my position is going to be ensuring that every employee is living and breathing the company culture.

So after our week, I think you can understand the lack of blog posts - it has been a very crazy yet exciting time.  And now we're one down, one to go in our job search!  Unemployment ends for me as of Tuesday, so John and I are enjoying our last few days of freedom together!  Also, John has an interview this upcoming Tuesday, which we are very hopeful and excited about so keep your fingers crossed and say some prayers about that one!  So that leaves me to my final word of advice from Nora Roberts for all my readers out there: "If you don't go after what you want, you'll never have it.  If you don't ask, the answer is always no.  If you don't step forward, You're always in the same place."

Ready for my interview and post-job offer celebratory pizza!

Beach and the San Diego Zoo!

This past week has been an exciting one!  John and I have been busy applying and we are both positive about some potential leads, but I don’t want to disclose anything on here yet!  We were also able to go to the beach again and also visit the San Diego zoo!  We actually became members so we can go back whenever we want and take some our future visitors at a discounted rate (first come, first serve incentives)! 

The zoo was awesome!  First of all, it was so huge that John and I kept getting lost, and there are sooo many animals!  We had a blast checking out different exhibits, walking around, and just enjoying the gorgeous day!  Check out some of the pics, it was such a fun time!

Left: Tilapia Parm & Potatoes / Center: Burger "Melissa Style" & Asparagus / Right: GIANT Artichoke!

Us in front of the Giraffes!

A Camel and I forgot what animal is on the right

Lounging Bear and Crazy Monkey

Gorgeous flowers, LOVE the one on the left

A Gazelle and obviously a Giraffe

Love this flower that looks like a bird!

Giant Hippo underwater!

Cute duck with all her ducklings

We took a ride on the sky tram!

Views from above

We were just in time for the lions' lunch!

I was able to catch the Condors' wing spans

Some huge Porcupines and an Orangoutang 

And we finished off the day by stumbling upon a pair of mating Pygmy Hippos...