When life is busy, the blog is neglected

Unfortunately, I have been very busy the past couple of weeks and I have not been able to update this blog.  However, I was busy because I got a job!  My first professional job!  I am a junior proposal writer for a government contracting company.  I've only been there for about two weeks, but I've been learning a lot and I will be working on some proposals this week!  It is exciting work and very fast paced.  So far I am enjoying the job, but I have been having trouble getting accustomed to the long hours.  I work from 9am to 6pm, which is a huge increase from the number of hours that I worked at Hallmark.  But it will pay off in the end--I hope!  I am officially starting my career, and I'm glad I found a job in less than a year from when I graduated college.

Technically, I didn't find this job...they found me!  During September I started searching hard core for jobs.  I posted my resume on monster.com and careerbuilder.com, and I applied for over 50 jobs in two weeks.  As the weeks went on, I didn't hear back from anyone and I began to give up.  But then, on a Friday in October, I got a call from the company I now work with.  They asked me to participate in a phone interview and after I finished answering their questions, they invited me in for a face-to-face interview!  I was very excited and couldn't believe I got a call from a job I didn't even apply to!  After the interview, with four people, and two weeks of waiting, I got an offer for a position as a Junior Proposal Writer.

Other than working about 50-55 hours per week, I'm trying to keep up with dance practice and applying for graduate school.  It is tough to keep everything organized when a new life path starts.  Luckily, I was able to get a day (Thanksgiving) off during my first month so I could have a break from all the chaos.  Speaking of Thanksgiving...I love turkey and I ate so much turkey.  Also, I made homemade baked mac and cheese.  It turned out well and everyone really liked it!  While making it, I learned how to temper an egg, which I had to research because I had never heard of it before.  Here is the recipe for baked mac and cheese:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 pound elbow macaroni
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1 tablespoon powdered mustard
• 3 cups milk
• 1/2 cup yellow onion, finely diced
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1 large egg
• 12 ounces sharp cheddar, shredded
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• Fresh black pepper

Topping:

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup panko bread crumbs

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• In a large pot of boiling, salted water cook the pasta to al dente.
• While the pasta is cooking, in a separate pot, melt the butter. Whisk in the flour and mustard and keep it moving for about five minutes. Make sure it's free of lumps. Stir in the milk, onion, and paprika.
• Simmer for ten minutes
• Temper in the egg
• Stir in 3/4 of the cheese
• Season with salt and pepper
• Fold the macaroni into the mix and pour into a 2-quart casserole dish
• Top with remaining cheese
• Melt the butter in a saute pan and toss the bread crumbs to coat
• Top the macaroni with the bread crumbs
• Bake for 30 minutes
• Remove from oven and rest for five minutes before serving

The only other dish I made for dinner was dessert and I made brownies.  I helped my mom make all the other dishes, which were delicious!  Interestingly, I had the most trouble assembling the crescent rolls!  They were the ones that come in the tin that you pop open and then peel apart and lay on the baking sheet.  I hate popping that stupid tin open!  It scares me every time, and I nearly throw the thing when it pops!  I didn't realize that I had to unroll the whole roll of dough and then form them into crescents.  I started peeling it apart while it was rolled up and I couldn't figure out why they didn't look like crescents.  Then, my mom and Josh were like "oh no, Shannon! You did it wrong!!!!"  And then they showed me how to do it...lol.

Thanksgiving was so fun and relaxing, which made it hard to go back to work the next day.  I did get in some Black Friday shopping before going to work on Friday.  My mom and I went to Tyson's Corner Mall at midnight for the grand opening.  It was absolutely crazy!  We only went to one store, New York & Company because of the 50% off sale, and the line went all the way around the store!  We had to be home by 2:00 am because I needed to sleep before work, so we didn't get to visit any other stores.  However, we went back to the mall on Saturday.  I was able to get a lot of business clothes for work, and the best part was that the clothes were all 50% off or more!  I just love getting a great sale! 

Thus, my Thanksgiving break was amazing, because food and shopping makes me happy, especially when combined into a span of three days!  Also, I was able to see Julie and Drea, which made the Thanksgiving break even better.  We saw the first part of the final Harry Potter movie, which was INCREDIBLE!!!  I loved the movie.  And I want to see it again sometime soon...probably when it gets to the cheaper theater though.  I need to see the movie again before writing a blog post about it because it has now been about a week since I saw the movie and don't remember all the minor details I would like to discuss.  I recommend you see the movie if you love Harry Potter like I do--it won't disappoint!  Unfortunately, I didn't get to see my Annie Banannie!!!  However, she now has a blog so we can all follow her life and stalk her meticulously.  I hope this blog was a sufficient update.  If I think of more, I will try to add it in before another two months go by!

Love,

Shannon