Dream Job Giveaway!

Oh Hello! 


You're all still here I see.


Where have I been, you ask?


Well, friends, that is a very good question. 


I had planned to post sooner. I honestly did. I had a dip I wanted to share for Super Bowl, chicken parm I thought would make for a great Saturday evening dinner, but I promise I'll post those sooner or later. 


While birthday tour 2012 got started very early in the year, I've also been busy doing something else. Something I have practicing for months and months. Something that may change my entire life as I know it. 


For those of you who follow me on twitter, you probably already know that this life-altering experience I speak of is the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT), which I am taking tomorrow morning at 8:30AM. 


My decision to apply to law school has not been easy. While many of my friends and family support this decision now, they were very apprehensive at first. Not to mention the time I had to dedicate to studying caused me to alienate a lot of people I was close with. Although many understood it was only temporary, not everyone did. While I try not to let what others think and say determine the outcome of my decisions, it was hard to shut out much of the negativity I faced: the difficulties of school, the expense, the lack of jobs in the legal profession. Many questioned "Why law school? Why now?"


I mean, I MAY have just woken up one day and said "I think I'll go to law school", a la Elle Woods, but it's not as if it happened exaaaactly that way. 


For a long time I always imagined myself in a legal career. In high school, I even toyed with the idea of going into politics, until I realized being a poli-sci major is just as meaningless as being a communications major, except you don't get to watch as many movies for class credit, so I chose the latter. I saw myself wearing cute suits, going to important meetings, making exciting business deals. After college I thought the natural transition would be to head to law school. But then I turned 21 and wanted to go out with my friends. And then I started dating a guy and wanted to spend all my time with him. And after a failed attempt at the LSAT in 2004, I knew I wasn't ready. 


I also knew, that there was something else I wanted to do with my life. Something I was so passionate about, it consumed almost all of my time...well all of the time I wasn't at the bar or with my boyfriend. It was food. I wanted to talk about it, I wanted to read about it, I wanted to taste it, and most importantly, I wanted to cook it. I followed my passion to culinary school and and shortly after I landed a dream job working on the culinary segments of a very famous television lifestyle show. 


For the past six years of my life, I can truly say I've been living my dreams. My job isn't always glamourous and it certainly isn't always easy. But most days I enjoy what I do and everyday I learn something I didn't know the day before. 


The problem with achieving your dreams so early in your career, is that in order to keep growing you have to have new ones. Sometimes you just wake up with them, which is sort of what I did when I recently decided to take another stab at law school. Sometimes, they are also forced upon you, which is something that also happened when I received news that our TV show would no longer exist in it's current format. Would there be a place for me in its new format? That was unclear. What was clear was that this was an opportunity for me to explore other dreams life had to offer. This is not to say that I will give up my culinary career altogether, or that I will definitely pursue law school. I am just keeping my options open and no matter what I do, I will always have a passion for food and cooking and try to find ways to share that with others.


Studying for this exam has been exhausting, stressful, and at times, downright awful...and it is just the beginning of the hard work and effort that goes into being a lawyer! While partaking in a little online retail therapy study break one afternoon, I was browsing one of my go-to gift giving websites, Nico and Lala, and came across the most adorable note cards that said '"Soon-to-Be" (a real) Housewife"'. As a fan of the infamous Bravo TV franchise, I knew I simply must have them! Talk about a dream job! Okay, so maybe I don't want to be a "real housewife" in the TV sense, but I'd be lying if I didn't tell you one of the reasons I am thinking about going to law school not only to get my J.D. but also for my MRS. I mean is IS a good place to meet a husband. (At least as good of a place as anywhere else!) While I doubt I would ever fully give up my career to be a "housewife" one of the things I HAVE learned from the Real Housewives franchise is you don't have to give up your career to be a real housewife. You CAN have it all. (or at least almost!)


While I loved these notecards so so much, there was a slight problem. I am not "soon-to-be" or even "kinda-soon-to-be" or "maybe in the next five years I could possibly be" a housewife. Or any kind of wife for that matter. (Though, with the help of blogger pal Hopsy, that could all change soon!). I only new that someday in the future I would eventually might be a "real" housewife. 


With that in mind, I sent a little email to Nico and Lala asking if they could customize the cards for me to say "Future (real) Housewife". They were more than delighted to meet my requests and promptly sent me these:

. 


Now for the Giveaway!


As a thank you for all your support and sticking with me and my blog during stressful times with a lack of postings, I am giving away a set of my custom "Future (real) Housewife" notecards. They are perfect for the gal who someday dreams marrying a dashing gentleman, the single mom who is waiting for her cookie business to take off, the married woman working both hard to manage her career and take care of her family, and always fun to send to friends who love anything "Housewives". 


Rules:


1. Leave a comment on this blog post no later than Wednesday, February 15th at 9PM EST telling me what your "Dream" Job would be. 
2. You will get an additional entry if you mention this giveaway in a blog post, on twitter, or on Facebook. You will only get one additional entry, so you do not have to do all three unless you really feel like it. Just let me know where you mentioned it in your comment with your dream job. 


*Disclaimer-This giveaway was sponsored entirely by me and all thoughts about the product are my own. At the current moment Nico and Lala have no idea I am giving away any of their products, but I do love them and encourage you to visit their site. I love to support young women who follow their dreams, not mention they have wonderful gifts and their customer service is amazing. After talking to Lala herself I may or may not have also been inspired to start a small business doing something I love myself. Maybe I should see where law school takes me first...