Life In The Post Graduation Real-World: Phase II

Well, it has officially been one week since the 2010 General Assembly session adjourned Sine Die and I moved home from Richmond. Thus, I have officially been unemployed for one week, as well. On that front, I had an interview in DC last week and should hear back something from them later this week, and I also have an interview in Richmond this week, so please pray that God creates an opportunity for me wherever I am supposed to end up. :) The upside to not finding a job yet is that I have plenty of time to catch up with family and friends, sleep in, and just relax in general. :) On another optimistic note, spring is here! (hence the pastel spring colored theme change on my blog :) I've been enjoying all of the driving that I've been doing lately, thanks to the gorgeous warm & sunny weather! The coming of spring also seems to have helped get everyone past the gloomy winter blues and into their happy, smiling selves again, which is certainly a positive transition to witness!

I spent yesterday evening enjoying the gorgeous weather with a good friend at the charmingly adorable Charlottesville Downtown Mall. At the suggestion of my friend, we started with dinner at Downtown Thai, which I eagerly agreed to (FYI, I love Thai and Indian food!). We were seated by the window, which was the perfect spot to watch passersby on the street outside while we enjoyed our dinner. I highly recommend the Drunken Noodles with Tofu....absolutely delicious! Afterwards, we went for a stroll around the mall, which was filled with other people who were also out enjoying the beautiful Saturday evening. For dessert, we ordered crepes with strawberries and white chocolate from a little crepes stand that was tucked away on Water Street, but it was certainly a nice find! (I would have never discovered it on my own, but luckily my friend graduated from UVA Law, so he knows many of these hidden treasures that the city has to offer). Needless to say, they were incredibly tasty, but countered the 3.5 mile run that I went on earlier that morning. So much for that Post-Richmond detox diet that I keep saying I'm going to start....maybe tomorrow's the day....haha. Anyway, we had tickets for the Carbon Leaf concert at the recently renovated Jefferson Theater, and had been anticipating the show for several weeks. Having just recently become a fan of this Richmond based band, this was my first time seeing them perform live, and I must say that they put on an impressive, high-energy, toe-tapping show! I will definitely be on the lookout for any of their nearby shows in the future.

On that note, having just gone to the John Mayer concert at JPJ earlier in the week (the tickets were a surprise birthday present from my awesome brother... Mayer was every bit as amazing as I expected, by the way), one of my friends mentioned this morning that I go to a lot of concerts. This led me to take a minute to think back over the concerts that I've been to within the past year and this is the list that I came up with (starting with the most recent):

Carbon Leaf (3/20/10)

John Mayer w/ Michael Franti & Spearhead (3/16/10)

Daughtry (11/09)

Jimmy Buffett (11/09)

Journey (9/09)

Counting Crows w/ Augustana and Michael Franti & Spearhead (9/09)

The Doobie Brothers (8/09)

A Capitol Fourth w/ Barry Manilow, Aretha Franklin, Natasha Bedingfield, and The Jersey Boys cast (7/4/09)

I guess it's pretty obvious that going to concerts is one of my favorite hobbies, but I mean, what's not to love? Nothing beats a night filled with live music & dynamic performances from my favorite musicians...an awesome experience that is shared with family members and/or close friends, not to mention the dancing, singing along together, and fun memories that result! However, as I told my friend, frequent concert-going is an expensive hobby, one that I will unfortunately have to give up should I not find employment soon. This helped me realize my dream (although incredibly farfetched) career.....an entertainment critic! I mean seriously, how cool would that be?! Get paid to attend concerts, plays, films, you name it, and then write a column about it. That would quite possibly be the most enjoyable job that I could ever imagine. Sooo if anyone knows of any newspaper/online blog producers who might be looking to fill such a position, please send them my way!!!! :)

Don't worry, I'm not giving up my day job (er, make that job search) anytime soon.

Hope you all got a chance to go outside and enjoy the gorgeous weather that we were blessed with here in the Valley this weekend! :)

Take care until next time....