Oh What A Difference A Year Makes

I was curious today to see what I was blogging about last year around this same time. I wasn't surprised to find this little nugget "Venting". Not surprised at all. Last year at this time I remember being uber stressed, hating work, never seeing friends, and tired.

Wow! What a difference a year has made! This busy season is completely different than last one (thank goodness!). Even though I'm one of only 3 tax staff at LHM and the only one working on the business side of things, I have yet to stay past 8 pm and I've even managed to have a slight social life (a big one considering I'm living at home with the parents and most of my friends are in NY, PA, or Costa Rica). I actually like work (as much as one can LIKE accounting). I'm not stressed (about work - personal life is another story). I'm happy (even though we're in the middle of a huge blizzard right now). And I haven't had dreams about tax returns (yet)!

The weirdest thing about this year - I've actually wished I had more work than I do. I still haven't quite gotten over the guilt of leaving before 10 (let alone 8 - though not once has that guilt made me stay) or even the guilt for not being stressed about the tax deadline. But then I read what life was like for me last year and the guilt leaves temporarily - I'm actually GRATEFUL!

Here are just some differences between LHM & PwC that I've noticed over the past 4 weeks:

1) PwC I was on 5 clients (which was actually a LOT for our group); LHM who knows how many

2) Time to complete one return at PwC: 2 days - 3 weeks; LHM: 5 min - 14 hrs (yesterday I completed 11 returns and played around on facebook for an hour and left at 6:30!!)

3) Hours/week at PwC: 75 avg; LHM: 55 avg

4) Pay at PwC...let's just say it was A LOT more...

5) Stress level at PwC (out of 10): 9.5; LHM: 5

6) My competency/knowledge base at PwC (again out of 10): 7.5; LHM: 5

7) Number of people I wanted to witness receiving physical harm at PwC: unlimited; LHM: none

8) Number of days I called in sick because I just couldn't work at PwC: too high to count; LHM: none (but it has only been 4 weeks - give me time haha)

9) PwC I worked at a cubical (well after being forced to sit at the windowsill for a year); LHM I share an office which is larger than the managers' offices at PwC

10) PwC people LOVE to delegate work & only associates prepared tax returns; LHM even the partners prepare some tax returns - everyone pitches in

All in all I'm happy I moved home. Yes I miss NYC and my friends back there. Yes I miss living on my own. Yes I still find myself wondering if I want to do accounting for the rest of my life. But for the most part life is good!

Blah

You know those days where no matter how hard you try you can't concentrate on work for more than...oh...5 minutes at a time? Well I'm having one of those days. It's not that I don't like my new job - because I do. It's just that I have no motivation to work. It might be because I know what tax return is next on my list of To-Do's and I know that I'm actually not able to do since I can't access the information I need. Or maybe it's because it's Friday and I'm looking forward to a fun night with my sis and nieces. Or maybe it's because it's freezing in my office and all I can think about is how good a nice hot bath sounds right now. Or maybe I'm just having one of those blah days.

The weird thing about today is that I feel guilty about it. I look back on my time at PwC and all the many "blah days" I had and never once did I feel guilty about blogging at work or researching the new Twilight movie or seeing what friends were up to on Facebook. But I do here. Maybe it's because I'm new. Maybe it's because people here seem to never have "blah days". Maybe it's because I'm turning into a better person (haha). I don't know why the guilt is so strong with me today, but it is.

There is a lot I don't know about this blah day of mine (obviously) but one thing is for certain. I don't know how I'm going to make it until 5:00.

I'm back!

That's right. 6 weeks have gone by (too quickly I might add) and I am now back in the USA. I had so many plans for my first day back - all the amazing American food I'd be eating, shopping for cars, shopping for clothes (not like I didn't do that in Costa Rica...but ya know), seeing all my family, seeing friends, etc. Except...

I GOT SICK!

Yep! So I can't see family (I don't want to get them sick), I can go shopping (I feel like crap), and I can't eat any food I've been craving (I can't swallow).

But let's look on the positive side of this...my mom did all my laundry (thanks Mom!) and I've gotten to spend all day in bed catching up on the TV I've missed for the past 6 weeks. So far I've been able to check off Chuck and Greek. Next to come are (in no particular order) Psych, 30 Rock, Bones, The Office, Greys Anatomy, Private Practice, Gossip Girl, Vampire Diaries...you get the picture. I'm going to be busy the next few days of laying in bed.

Costa Rica Update

I just updated my other blog about my Costa Rica adventures so far. Check it out!!
http://kejourney.blogspot.com/

Pura Vida!

I'm off!

Tomorrow at this time I will be on an airplane headed to San Jose, Costa Rica! I can't believe the time has already come for this trip! I'm SOOOO excited! People keep asking me if I'm nervous at all - and honestly, I'm not. I have been looking forward to doing this for so long now that I just wish I were there already. I'm not looking forward to the LONG flight tomorrow night though. I leave SLC at 8 pm and arrive in Costa Rica at 6:25 am (4:25 UT time). Sunday might be a really long day. I feel like I have a lot of little things to tie up still. And quite frankly, I keep thinking of more and more things I should do before I leave. Tomorrow might be a very busy day! So on that note I should probably stop blogging and get to work checking off things on that to-do list.


OH - before I leave though...I should share some news with my blogging friends. I got a job to come back to! I'm really excited about it. I'll be working at an accounting firm in Salt Lake called Lake, Hill & Meyers. Everyone that I've met there has seemed really nice and fun, so I think it'll be a great place to work. And it'll be completely new stuff I've never worked on before, so I'm thinking I'll like it better than my old job *hopefully*. And as a side-note...as discussed with some friends...I'm making my blog un-private. I'm such a fan of blogs that aren't private because then you can take advantage of Google Reader - so I'm doing this for all my peeps out in blogging land :). I always said that I only went private while I was looking for a job and I would go public again once I found one...so yeah. Oh - and one last thing (I promise this is the last "last") - I'm starting a blog for my Costa Rica trip. I'm not sure how often I'll be able to update it since I'm not 100% sure how the internet-using will be down there. But I'll either write while I'm there or do a major re-hashing of the trip once I get home. But check it out if your bored: http://kejourney.blogspot.com/ That also goes for this blog. I probably won't update it much over the next 6 weeks, so I apologize in advance. Well...for now...adios!!

Wooo (wipe forehead)

Yesterday around 8:00 pm, my parents and I looked at each other, exhausted, and smiled. I think it was Mom who said "We did it!" as we gave each other the customary high fives and, to my horror, the ever popular "knuckles." Kelli and Jeff had just picked up their kids and the house seemed eerily quiet.

It started last Sunday when I had 2 of my nieces (Hannah and Jenna) sleep over. The next night, we took care of Jeff and Inger's kids, Jaron and Calyn. And since Wednesday, my parents and I had 5 or 6 of my nieces at my house (ages 3 mo - 12 yrs). In the midst of all that, we had ALL the family up on Christmas (yep - all 29 of us) and we also all got together for New Year's Eve. Needless to say, we've been busy!

On Wednesday, Kelli and Jeff went down to St. George leaving Hannah, Kate, Molly, and Brooke with us. Jordan graciously volunteered to help out and Jenna tagged along to play with her cousins. Boy did we have our hands full?!?! I got a glimpse of what it was like to be a mom of 6 (I don't know how my mom did it!), but as the cool aunt, I was more there for entertainment than the motherly role.

That being said, we had a lot of fun! I took them to the dollar store (Grandma gave them each $2 and they were in Heaven). I gave them manicures, pedicures, and facials. We did hair. We watched a bunch of TV and movies. We got Slurpee's. We played games. We had fun!

We also had a blast on New Year's Eve at Cori & Tory's house. We played Bunko, ate great food, had a ping-pong tournament (congrats Mom on being the tournament champion!), had lots of treats, and drank sparkling cider at 10 pm to ring in the new year (Eastern time). Unfortunately we missed the ball dropping since we were having too much fun and turned on the TV at 10:01. I guess I could have actually stayed awake until midnight to see it drop, but I was as exhausted as the kids, since during the past week I've also been battling a cold (plus I'm getting old).

Well...long story short...it's been a very busy and tiresome Christmas / New Year's "break". But it's also been such a fun week! Anyone who knows me well knows how much I absolutely adore my nieces and nephews. Although it's been tiring, the past week has been AMAZING! I've absolutely loved having this time to spend with my nieces and nephews. And it makes me feel so good to know they love having me here. To prove that, today Rachel asked me when I had to go back to New York. When I told her that I wasn't going back, she got a big smile on her face, gave me a big hug, and told me that she was happy I was staying here. I sure do love my family.

PS - HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Back home blues

Living in NY the past 2 1/2 years has allowed me to forget (somewhat) that I'm 26 and not married and no prospects. Out there I'm still young. It's totally normal to be single at 26. In fact it's abnormal to be married before that - let alone have a kid or two.

Well...coming back home has been a big slap in the face in this department.

Yesterday I went to church and a girl who I used to babysit walked in with her husband and - you guessed it - a baby bump! I started looking around sacrament meeting and realized that all my old acquaintances were either sporting one or two babies - or the girls who just graduated from high school were sporting large diamonds. And there I was 26, unemployed, unmarried, no kids, and just moved back in with my parents.

I've known that it wasn't going to be easy moving back home. I knew that I would have to deal with the majority of my friends being married and having kids. I knew that I would end up being one of the oldest people in my ward. All this I "knew," but "knowing" is different than actually living it. Seriously, this moving back home is not the easiest thing I've done. It's hard feeling like I'm so behind everyone on this whole "life" thing.

Hopefully things will get better when I get back from Costa Rica, find a job, move out of my parents' home, and find a ward where everyone isn't 19. I know the Lord wants me to be here for some reason, I just wish I knew what it was. For now, I'll just have to put up with things for a few more weeks then it's off to Costa Rica for 6 glorious weeks!!