Blink and you miss it!

That's how I'm feeling life has been the past couple of weeks. Every aspect of my life has been so busy; the end of the year is just flying by!!
I wanted to post real quick to let my lovelies know I haven't fallen off the face of the planet...yet.
(Just kidding!)
Work has been absolutely crazy! In November, we doubled our mortgage portfolio and now we are trying to get everything squared away, which means there is overtime available! Overtime=more $$=Ali getting her iPhone faster!
Plus, I've been going crazy trying to get everything ready for Christmas. I finally finished ALL my shopping on Saturday with the help of one of my besties, Blair. The mall was PACKED!! But I managed to get it done and pick up my craft supplies for some of the gifts I'm making (Pintrest tutorials, ftw!). And I am going to be making those projects tonight, along with the jewelry set I'm making for my mom :)
And I've been watching A LOT of Bones on Netflix, so that gets in the way too.
Oh, and there has been personal drama, and I'll try to see what I can do with that in this forum without whining too much ;)
Hopefully, once everything calms down, I'll be able to post with more regularity (if I dont get distracted by David Boreanaz...mmmmmm).

Friday

Hi lovelies!

Today was great. 

The gloom has cleared =)

(Thanks to my two best friends and some country music)

Today was my first official bank holiday. I've been employed with the bank for two weeks and already I had a day off.

My sister, Ashley, and my best friend, Jackie (the aforementioned best friends) are in from out of town.

Every Thursday, when they lived here, we went line dancing. 

We went last night, and it was a blast.

Today, I got to sleep in a whole two extra hours. Woo hoo!!

And errand running with my sister followed by crafting and getting ready for the craft show tomorrow with Ashley and Jackie.

And watching Crazy Stupid Love, in which Ryan Gosling is perfect, Emma Stone is gorgeous, and Steve Carrell is hilarious.

All in all, a good day. I hope tomorrow will be just as great!!
And I hope you all have a great tomorrow, too.

Just keep following the heartlines on your hand...

It's kind of a gloomy day here in Buffalo. And some things have happened that have put me in a gloomy mood but I'm trying to not let it overcome me.
I'm trying to listen to songs/albums/artists that make me dance in my chair and I'm reading a ton of blogs from girls who are just bursting with happiness and it makes me want to emulate them and still be myself. (Does that make sense?)
We're almost entering the dead zone so I am going to raid my photobucket and the internet for what I am thinking of to keep me happy today. Ready??





Hello Kitty 

leetle baby bulldogs in pink glasses :3

(are you getting a theme here?)

my beautiful desktop background

I think all that would put a smile on even the grouchiest person's face because everything has it's own beauty about it.

"Hey, Ali."-blog readers

"Yeah, lovelies??"-me

"What music have you been listening to??"

Great question! My playlist the past couple of days has been pretty awesome and pretty non-cohesive. Let's take a look...

Radiosurgery by New Found Glory (they will always be one of my favorite bands)

Hot Mess by Cobra Starship

Night Shades by Cobra Starship

Ceremonies by Florence + the Machine

and

In Some Way, Shape or Form by Four Year Strong

See what I mean? None of that makes sense to anyone but me.

until next time!

xo, ali

"How did you end up in banking?"

That's what my mom asked me last night.

And, honestly? I have no idea.
I just started a job for a rather large regional bank in WNY (Western New York) in what they call the "back office" relating to mortgages. How I ended up here? I think (and I believe in this stuff) it is my "destiny" (for lack of a better term). However, I love it.
I started out working part-time (very part-time) for Regal Cinemas. It was okay. The pay sucked but I got as many free movies as I wanted and an unlimited supply of movie posters. I wanted something more.

Let me confess something. I'm 27 and....wait for it....I still live at home. I know, I know. It's a little embarassing given that most of my classmates are married with a kid or two and we are coming up to our 10-year reunion, but there it is. I live at home. Most nights, you can find me in the living room with my mom and dad answering Jeopardy! questions.

The more that I wanted was a better car than the '97 tank I was driving and also using to see how many deer I could hit on back roads. The more was my own apartment. And freedom.

So, my sister had an awesome job doing mortgage customer service for a well-known, nationwide mortgage company. I had nothing to lose and applied, thus starting my career in banking. I was thrown everything there was to catch relating to mortgages, taxes, and insurance and soaked it up like a sponge. A year later, they trusted me to train new hires and throw the same information at them and gave me a super-cool title of Backup Trainer.
A year later, the site manager asked me to apply for the open supervisor position, which I did. Turns out, he asked someone else to apply for the position also. When it came down to it, they were given the position and I was turned down for some nonsense reason. I'd had enough being that department's whipping girl. I filled out a handful of applications for my current financial institution and someone finally saw my strengths.

Now, I work in banking. I get to wake up at 6am every day. Drive from Akron, NY all the way to University at Buffalo-South Campus and take a metro train with other bleary-eyed commuters to beautiful downtown Buffalo. I have a great view and it's been a week and I already love my job. Free pizza. A great cafeteria. A free preview performance of the musical Million Dollar Quartet in our lobby, and already great people to work with. I just need my cubicle and I'm set.

Hi, I'm Ali, and I work in banking.


P.S.--I no longer drive the tank, but I am now a "stupid, shiny Volvo owner." (cookies if you get the reference.)