2013 - My Year In Review, Part 2

April

Warm weather is on the way!  Yeah, not so much.
The job continued to go well, but it was getting hard to figure out a rhythm with my new schedule.  Working 12:30-9 five days a week doesn't leave much room for a social life.  Regardless, my depression was starting to lift.  That is, until I realized just how much the pay cut I took leaving my photography gig was affecting my finances.  I was barely making ends meet.

On the 5th of April, as Philip and I were laying in bed, he told me he wanted to be with me and only me.  Take note - this had already been the case for both of us for the past few months, but we never really openly discussed it until that night.  He had made me the happiest girl in the world.  There may have even been tears (mine and his) involved.

The stage at Xfinity Live! Philadelphia

In the crowd during GG's last Wilmington show.

This month my friends and I witnessed the end of an era - one of the best cover bands in the tristate area, Mr.  Greengenes, had decided to call it quits and was making their rounds playing their last couple of shows, culminating in a big blowout at Xfinity Live! in Philadelphia.  It was a bittersweet time; I had grown up watching these guys play.

Lesson Learned - Don't ever accept a job offer before knowing how much they are going to pay you.  Huge mistake on my part.
2nd Lesson Learned - Sometimes, having patience with someone who means the world to you pays off.  [Sometimes.]

May

It started to dawn on me that I was spending more time in a lab with people who constantly talked shit behind each others' backs and surrounded by tension, than I was doing anything else.  I started to miss the driving that came with my old job, the kids I had worked with, the coworkers who were like a second family to me.  But I was determined to stick it out.

Money woes were my main concern, but with the help of my mother, God love her, I was able to pay off a huge chunk of debt and completely revamp my budget.

Dewey Beach, Mother's Day 2013

We spent Mother's Day Weekend at the beach with his family and I felt that I had made a good impression, (us having a place to stay in Dewey instead of sleeping on the floor at his parents' probably helped.)  That Sunday we said our goodbyes and headed back into Dewey, spending the day walking up and down the main highway, doing a little bar hopping and checking out the Art Festival that was going on.  I remember taking pictures at the bay, then meandering over to the beach and doing the same with the ocean behind us.

My next door neighbor got married on the 18th and the reception was held in my backyard.

The pool didn't get opened until around Memorial Day and this year was quite the nightmare.  The water was not clearing up, regardless of what we did to remedy it.  We had the filter looked at, the water tested a million times, dumped roughly $500 worth of chemicals into it, to no avail.  Major point of contention between my mother and I, let me tell you.  And the hardest part for me was not being around to help out much because of my work schedule and the fact that I was splitting my time between Swedesboro (work,) Parkesburg (the boyfriend,) and Wilmington (home.)
Lesson Learned - Have the pool opened the first weekend in May at the latest so that if issues do arise, they can be remedied before Memorial Day.

June

The pool dilemma was finally solved when I took a sample of water to Swift Pools, Inc, the guys who actually installed it ten years ago.  (Note - I will never, ever, deal with Leslie's Pool Supplies ever again.  Don't tell me my water is testing fine and then shake your head in disbelief when I throw my phone at you so you can see the picture I've taken that morning of water that is the color of split pea soup.)  Long story short, our pool water was old and retaining solid matter to the point that chemicals were no longer effective.  The water is supposed to test something between 1 and 2 thousand PPM, ours was at 3000.  After 3 nights of draining and refilling simultaneously, the water was crystal clear in about two days.  

Tailgating at Blue Gold.

Me and my girl, Jenny.

It was a month of graduation parties and barbecues.  We went to the Blue Gold football game to watch my cousin play, one of the highest honors (in my opinion) that a high school senior can achieve.  I also got to see Rusted Root play at the Bottle and Cork in Dewey, so I can cross that off the bucket list.

I also made the decision to go back to my old photography job while cutting the grass one day.  I do some of my most profound thinking and reflection while performing this task.
Lesson learned - Being the "picture lady" for the rest of my life isn't such a bad gig.

The first half of 2013 was quite the rollercoaster for me, between new adventures, a new job, a new relationship.  I felt that I was finally getting my shit together.  The whole "Once your mind is in good shape, everything else will fall into place" does actually work.  It was my plan all along.  It was why I joined the gym, why I got a new job, why I worked so hard to keep my depression at bay.  The second half of 2013 turned out a lot different than I had planned...