Chicago Weather Makes Me Cry

The high for today was 86 degrees. And let me tell you, it was perfect. Just absolutely gorgeous. The list of words to describe the gloriousness of the weather includes, amazing, fantastic, brilliant, perfect, smoldering, beautiful, etc etc etc.

Unfortunately I work all day.

EEWWWW. NOOOOOO. STAAAAHP.

Kristen wasn't such a fan of work today either.

Fortunately, I did get a good 20 minutes of sunlight in during lunch, when Kristen and I went outside and sat in the gloriousness, soaking up the heat and happiness before returning to the prison known as "work."

Unfortunately, the moment we got out of work I was planning on hitting the pool, soaking up more sun, and reading my book (another Georgette Heyer. It's an addiction. I'm seeing a therapist), it started pouring rain. And I mean POURING rain. It was coming down in buckets, washing my dreams down the drain as it came. 

Our little trike that's too small for any normal human being to ride was sitting out in the rain. Who knows why...

But I mean, it was cute and "bloggery" so I snapped a picture, casual blogger life. So to take advantage of the rain, I decided to throw on my new pink raincoat and wellies and stand outside in the rain for a little while. Because there's something really satisfying about standing in the rain, feeling it pelt you, and not getting wet. Ooooh so satisfying.

Then of course, the rain suddenly stops. And the sun comes out, and birds are singing, and children are laughing and playing, and I'm just standing in my house all miserable with my raincoat and wellies on, with no rain in sight.

Chicago weather makes me want to cry.

Dueces

Summer Fun Has Begun

As we all know, Summer Fun has OFFICIALLY BEGUN.

And that means a lot of things.

Here is my summer bucket list;

1. Go to the Beach

2. Watch the Sun Set while having a picnic. Preferably on a hill

3. Tye Dye T-shirts! Summer classic

4.POOL PARTAAY

5. Harry Potter Movie Marathon - apparently it takes 17 hours to watch all of the Harry Potter movies in a row, and that doesn't include food/potty breaks, and the time it takes to switch dvd's. This will be epic.

6. Pull an all nighter, just because 

7. Paint fight!

8. Bonfire

9. Lemonade stand with Quincy, because she's precious and I'm going to miss her when I leave

10. Eat as many otter pops as I can before I throw up.

11. Chalk a driveway! Any volunteers?

12. Water Balloon Fight!

13. Night Swimming, because, hey, you're only young once right?

In other news, the grandma's are in town and it's been a little crazy around here (by grandma's I mean my grandmothers from both sides of the family). They both came for me and my cousin's graduation... and who knows how long they'll be staying! But there will be pictures eventually. It's just that right now life isn't very interesting becuase of my 7-4 job. Yuck.

Dueces

Let the Adventures Begin

Today my baby sister Quincy graduated from 5th grade! Whoa! I mean, I know I'm a college student and all, but that's just crazy. 

The elementary school she attends has a tradition on the last day of school, all of the parents line up at the back door so that when the 5th graders leave they run through our little football huddle and make it to victory at the end! It's really super cute and so much fun to watch them run out.

Oh and did I mention the silly string?

Yes. There was indeed an abundance of silly string.

Silly string galore.

A plethora of silly string if you will.

So obviously as the 5th graders run out of the school and through our little huddle they get sprayed silly with silly string! So my mom went out and bought tons of silly string for us to knock those 5th graders silly with!

But first the day started with the typical last day of school pictures...

She's just adorable.

Oh the awkward 5th grade smile, where your smile looks like you're somehow in pain. I don't worry though, she'll grow out of that. And In the meantime her real smile is darling so don't be fooled by pre-pubescent awkwardness.

What can I say? A girl after my own heart.

And here comes the 5th graders!

I have no idea who this boy is, I just like the picture because of the silly string.

She sprayed me with silly string. And it got in my mouth.

Oh hey look! There's mom in the background! (pink shirt, on the right)

Besides getting the string in my mouth, it really just got me all over. There was no escaping it.

When we got home, all safe and sound and covered in brightly colored string, Calvin and Lincoln got out the saw and the ladder to chop down some branches of one of our trees that were getting annoying. Calvin couldn't really reach the branches, so naturally he jumped up into the tree with the saw in his hand and cut the pesky things down. Now we just have to figure out how he's going to get down? Because yes, he's still up there. And it looks like our summer adventures have finally begun.

Dueces

That Nine to Five Life

So after much deliberation, pros and cons lists, and headaches, I have decided NOT to take the Vector job.

It was a really good opportunity, I loved the idea of being my own boss, making lots (and lots) of money, and getting some legitimate experience for the future, but the job itself was just to iffy. It wasn't guaranteed, it depended on my ability to sell the product and push myself forward on days when I felt like doing nothing. Also, something more stable came along.

I contacted a temp agency the other day and told them I was looking for work and had been referred to them by one of my friends who had gotten a job through their agency. So today I went in for a small interview and subsequent typing test (which, I mean, come on. I have a blog. I know how to freaking type). They offered me a job on the spot; I'll be working for a local school district in the area typing in information to their data base. I know. It just sounds so fun. 

Good things:

$10 an hour

I get paid every Friday

1/2 hour for a lunch break

consistent

lasts 6 weeks

Bad things:

1/2 hour for a lunch break

7:30-4:00pm Mon-Fri

lasts 6 weeks

I will have no life.

I will never see the sun.

I will not get tan.

I will not being going on vacation.

I accept this to be true, and therefore sign my summer vaca away for the sake of money.

I have officially sold my soul. Wish me luck.

Dueces

Vector Marketing

So how many of you have heard of Vector Marketing?

And how many of you have heard that it's a total scam?

Let me tell you my story...

Coming out of graduation, amongst the mobs of people penguin walking in a huddle out of the front doors, there was the lone woman. She was persevering through the crowd handing out letters to everyone in a white or green gown - so naturally she shoved one in my hand. I promptly forgot about the letter until a few days ago when I opened it. I won't copy it down because it was kinda long and you really don't want to read it. It basically said stuff like, "Congratulations! Our company employs lots of students to gain valuable experiences.." blah blah blah blah blah. But the letter never really said anything. There was no basic information, shoot I didn't even know what company it was that printed out this letter and shoved it into my hands.

Sounds like a scam to me!

So I didn't do anything about it, until one of my friends mentioned that she had checked out the website and applied for a job, and was set up for an interview the next day. So I figured, if she's doing it, I might as well, right? Right. So I filled out the mini app online, and not even 2 minutes letter someone called my phone to set up an interview. Uuuhhhhhh..... what starts with SH and ends with ADY? SHADY. Yeah suuuuuuuuuper shady. So this morning before my interview I did my own research on the company.

I found a lot of stuff that said it was all a scam, but just as much saying that it was legit. 

Some sources:

Here 

This one 

This one too 

Mostly what I found against Vector seemed to me to be people who tried it out, failed, and therefore hate it. So I decided to go to the interview to see how it went.

It was basically a group interview where a bunch of us sat in the conference room while the manager talked about the company, the expectations, the pay, the perks, etc. Then we were called one by one for a shorter interview. I was literally the last person to be called, but at the end of my short interview I was offered the job! I have to go for some basic training that's about 20 hours and starts this wednesday, thursday, and friday. And I don't get paid for that.

That little radar inside my head keeps going off, and I can't decide whether this is legit or not. Part of me feels like if this is legit, it's a great opportunity to gain some real experience in business and make BANK doing it too (it's $17 per appointment plus commission). And the other part of me is like, either this is too good to be true, or it's legit and I'll get fired within for first few weeks because I suck. 

So right now the plan is that I'll go to the training, see what's up, but still keep looking for a solid job. Wish me luck!

Dueces

Ooops

So after thinking about it, I probably should have mentioned that I was going to change the blogs URL before I actually changed the URL....

oops.

Well, guess what! I changed the URL!

For several reasons, mainly that it didn't make sense with the theme of the blog and I didn't really express what I was communicating. So it changed. Not to anything cool or fancy or quirky, it just says what it is now.

http://madisonthelion.blogspot.com

Dueces

Music Saves The Soul

So for graduation my wonderful parents bought me a new Macbook Air! (YIPPEEEE!)

So lately I've been going through the process of downloading all of my music from our home computer onto my laptop to take to college with me. Unfortunately, a few songs wouldn't switch computers, and I was missing a good chunk of my collection. 

Not to fear! Modern technology is here!

I found a website that will let you convert any youtube video into an mp3 file that you can download and it will pop up in your iTunes!

So guess what I've been doing the past 3 days?

That's right! Converting and downloading!

Behold my friends, the greatest DIY I have ever made:

Yes, yes, yes. I know. You are all very welcome.

Enjoy free music!

Dueces