Painting our Canvas: Working Girl

Good evening ladies and gents! It's almost Friday!!!

This week has been CRAZY busy for me at work. But, I LOVE it! It reminds me how lucky I am. Not only to have a job (especially after the whirlwind this past year has been)...but to have a job I LOVE!

As most of you know, I started working as a Project Coordinator at Hy-Vee Construction (yes...the Hy-Vee that we all know and love...aka the best grocery store chain EVER!) last February. I work with a GREAT team and I honestly look forward to going into work because of it!

To think back to where I was a year ago...it's crazy where life has taken me. A year ago I was in Maine and I was just starting a part-time job at JCPenney on this very day. I worked as a Support Specialist for the upcoming Holiday Season. Basically, I would get up every other day at the buttcrack of dawn to unload clothes, bring them to the shop floor, and arrange them. And, I loved it! I loved the people I worked with. I loved getting up early and having the rest of my day off. I loved getting a first look at the new clothes. Most of all, I loved that I had something to do.

A few of my friends from JCPenney

When we first decided to travel...one of the hardest things to leave was my job at Allsteel; especially because of the people I worked with. In addition to that, the whole idea of NOT having a job when we got to Maine was scary. I knew that it would bother me to have to rely on Troy here and there (especially considering the sale of my house was pushed out a few months more than expected). I didn't know, however, how BORED I would be. I looked for jobs before we left and even set up a few interviews. Unfortunately, the fact that we shared a car and Troy's job was 30 minutes away from our apartment didn't help and I eventually had to turn those options down.

There were several different events to take part in, but most (if not all) of them involved spending money (shopping at the local Farmer's Market, dance/yoga classes, going out to eat), and while I was still making house payments with no income, it was hard for me to spend anything. It got to the point where I looked forward to "laundry" day because I had made friends with the ladies who worked at the local laundromat. The laundromat was always filled with interesting people, so it became my social event each week!

Do not get me wrong...I enjoyed the free time. And, I am eternally grateful to Troy for bringing home the bacon for those two (LOOOONG) months. But, I started feeling worthless. I have the utmost respect for Stay-At-Home Mom's, but taking care of three cats (who thoroughly enjoyed having me there to play and snuggle, but only TRULY needed my to fill their food bowls and clean their "toilets") was not enough to make me feel like I was doing something important.

"Where's my food?"

The highlight of my days...watching the "kids" play with the top of a freezer bag.

I picked up a few hobbies: painting (which I am slowly getting back to), cooking (which I am slowly going away from..whoops), Netflix binging (which I am still trying to get away from)...etc. But, working at JCPenney gave me the burst of energy I was missing.

Flash forward back to the present...
I was so lucky to have made connections fairly quickly once we moved to Waukee, and through one of them, I was able to land this amazing job at HVC. I, like most of the people I know, had no idea that Hy-Vee had their own General Contractor. But...that's what we do! We build Hy-Vee's! A large part of my job involves setting up jobs, writing contracts, etc. But, I am also in charge of HVC's Facebook and Website (coming soon)! Please be sure to check out our Facebook page here to see some cool pictures and Hy-Vee projects that are ongoing/coming up!