What NOT to do

As a follow-up to my "I got a new job" post... here's a little lesson for anyone applying for jobs.

I sent out a handful of resume's, but only one hotel called my references, which is the hotel I got the job at.

I always include my references with my resume so they don't have to ask me for them. They're on a separate piece of paper as my resume.

I include my boss from two hotels ago, my boss from my last hotel, and my personal reference (Robyn's step-mom Melissa, who's known me since I was 8).

It's good to be proactive, you see. New bosses appreciate that sort of thing.

Unless, of course, you list your husband's phone number as your boss's.

Which I did.

Josh and Mark are the only two people I call from memory that have area codes "321" - I was CONSTANTLY dialing the wrong number and would realize mid-way through, or even as it started to ring. Not a problem, just hang up and start over.

You can't do that on a resume.

Luckily, my new boss thought this little incident was hysterical. And, my husband gave me a good review, so it all worked out.

Yes, you're allowed to laugh at me.

Just don't make the same mistake, or the joke's on you. =)

Love,
Josh, Kim & Abby

Welcome to the Hilton Garden Inn Louisville Northeast at The Summit

That's a mouthful, huh?

As I mentioned before, I had an interview the day after we got to Louisville - the day all our stuff was arriving. I had already put off said interview from the previous Friday, so I didn't want to change it again. I just knew this was the job I was supposed to have, and it was super important I make the appointment.

Well, I made it.

And I made the second interview with the Area Director that Thursday.

And I got the job offer that Friday!!

I always knew God would direct me to the right job, but per usual - His timing is never early and never late. It's so hard to trust and not worry, even when he has ALWAYS come through at JUST the right time. When will I ever learn?

So, I am now the Assistant General Manager at the HGI Louisville/Northeast. It's located in The Summit plaza (an outdoor shopping mall with upscale stores like J.Crew and Ann Taylor, but also regular stores like American Eagle and Old Navy) on the northeast side of Louisville.

This is the website:
http://louisvillenortheast.hgi.com/

And this is a pretty picture:

I had emailed several GM's from the Musselman Hotel management company letting them know we were relocating to Louisville and to keep me in mind if they had an opening. The only GM I didn't email... is the one who actually needed someone! My new hotel is quite a bit further than I thought I'd be driving, but SO worth it.

I'm in my second week already and making progress with getting to know everyone and starting projects. This hotel is definitely a challenge for me, especially being the "new girl" both in the hotel and in Louisville. I say a prayer every morning for strength and wisdom as I walk into the building... Phillipians 4:13!!

So now all of you have a place to stay when you come visit.

So, come visit. =)

Love,
Josh, Kim & Abby

The Bluegrass State

When we first got to the rental house, I realized that I couldn't see Abby's feet when she was walking in the backyard. In fact, her feet disappear up to her ankles in the grass.

The grass here in Kentucky is so different than Florida - the roots are about 3 inches think, and they're above ground, with the grass making up about another inch. She literally sinks into it when she walks or lays down.





And it's so soft.

When we're outside playing chase with Abby in the backyard, she'll periodically just all the sudden stop and plop down in the grass, for seemingly no reason. Half her body and face basically disappear into the grass.



I wasn't sure why she did this until I was walking in the grass barefoot one day, and I kind of wanted to plop down in it myself. I'm actually not sure if it's bluegrass we have or not... I tried to research it, but to no avail. Either way, it's awesome.

Love,
Josh, Kim & Abby

I had no idea it was so hard...

...to find a fly swatter.

Here's the story. Our french doors in the kitchen open directly to the backyard, and there's no screened-in room or patio. We got several flies in the kitchen because of this.

Apparently, Abby is afraid of flies.

I know... don't get me started.

However, we didn't know this at first. All we knew was that she would go high-tail it into our bedroom and onto the air mattress (or bed, once we got our stuff) and not budge. Well, unless we coaxed her with a cookie.


We finally figured out what the problem was when she wouldn't eat her bowl, which is right by the back door. She attempted it, but looked up sharply, put her tail between her legs and crouched/crawled out of the kichen. I realized at that point that a fly had buzzed her.

So, the search began for a fly swatter to rememdy this situation, so that our dog would rejoin the family once again.

Three separate employees in Wal-Mart had no idea where the fly swatters were, and sent me back and forth across said Supercenter. I was not a happy customer. A couple more stores... and still nothing.

Then Josh and I went to Bass Pro Shops in Clarksville, Indiana, where I was CERTAIN I'd find a fly swatter. That store is like the Mecca for all things outdoor.

Well, they did have one. But, the salespeople directed me to "novelty gifts" to find it:


Yep. It's a fish tail, with a fish-measuring ruler on the stick. And it's hanging on my kitchen wall, proudly.

We're seriously working fast to fit in with the locals up here in Kentucky, huh?

I'm happy to report that Abby is no longer afraid of the kichen, and is eating her bowls again like the little piggy she is.

Love,
Josh, Kim & Abby

Story of the gun safe

We needed one, I agreed to getting one, helped pick out the color, and told the movers which wall to put it on... IN JOSH'S ROOM.

So why, praytell, was it sitting in the middle of my living room upon my arrival home?

It wouldn't fit through Josh's doorway.

So now what??

"Well, at least it matches your couch," says my optimistic husband.

After some pouting (our family room is small, this monstrosity is making it smaller) and then getting over it, I'm looking on the brighter side.

At least we're in Kentucky - it's normal to have gun safe as accent decor in your family room.

And, now I have a new shelf on which to set pretty plants, decorations, or lamps.

Much to Josh's chagrin.




Love,
Josh, Kim & Abby

Our stuff is here!

Slightly delayed, which made for a stressful day since I had a job interview... but regardless, our stuff is here!

I informed the movers last Wednesday that our new house is on a main road. It's not a side road - it has double yellow lines down the middle of it. It's not super-busy like SR 436, but it's bustling just the same.

Well... when the semi-truck (yes, really) arrived at 7:15am, they were uncomfortable with blocking one lane of traffic to unload our stuff. Thus started our bad luck, once again. But I guess it's better that no one is seriously injured in a car crash as a result of us getting our stuff delivered...



It took the Army 3 hours to approve the "shuttle" transfer again, where they use a rental truck to take our stuff off the semi and bring it over to the house.


When they finally did get back to the house it was already noon. Thankfully, Josh was able to come home from work early so I could go to my job interview.

Although the house was about half filled with boxes when I left, on my arrival back home, I couldn't even see the floor and had to squeeze through the front door.

And, there was a large brand new gun safe in the MIDDLE of my family room that was supposed to be in Josh's room... Yep. That's tomorrow's post.

Here are the before pictures:





And... the afters:







Since we took down the folding table, and our kitchen was filled with boxes, our dinner on our second night was... pizza with no plates, eaten off of a table, on top of boxes. lol


We're super happy to be all moved in! Let the unpacking begin.


Love,
Josh, Kim & Abby

The Kentucky Move - Day 2

Once we made it up here it was all worth it. The house is adorable and Abby loves the backyard!

Our first "Louisville" sign sighting!

Seriously, are we there yet?



However, she did immediately find something unpleasant to roll in within the first 10 minutes of being at our new home... so I'm happy to report the tub is in complete working order.

Our next order of business was a nap on the air mattress - all that driving really wore us out. Josh and Abby beat me to it, but I joined in right after I snapped a picture of this adorable-ness.

And finally, our first dinner consisted of Hamburger Helper on plastic plates eaten off of a folding card table the landlords left for Josh.



Home Sweet Home!

Love,
Josh, Kim & Abby

The Kentucky Move - Day 1

13 hours, 6 gas stops, 1 sneaky hotel stay, 1 fire alarm, 4 states, 2 fast food restaurants, 2 Benadryl pills, 1 hastily written MBA paper and lots of coffee...

...about sums up our drive to Kentucky.

Josh flew in LATE Friday night (delayed flights are my favorite) so we got a rather late... ok very late... start on Saturday morning.






Mom took this as our "driving away picture" and says she successfully did it without crying!

The drive went fine, although Abby was quite restless even with the Benadryl I gave her to calm her anxiety. We put her bed between us on the console, so she stayed there on her thrown most of the time. Due to her overwhelming cuteness, she would sometimes end up on Mommy or Daddy's lap, but that was few and far between.










We had to stay overnight at a Hampton in Chattanooga because both me and the dog couldn't do 13 hours straight (poor Josh), but unfortunately most Hamptons don't accept pets... and this one was no exception.

So, I booked this outside-entrance Hampton and asked for a room on the first floor in the rear of the building so we could just back the truck up to the door and bring Abby in covert-like.

Does anything ever go my way when I try to be sneaky? No.

Our room was on the second floor, all the way around facing the pool, over the main office. Fantastic.

We made it into the room successfully without Abby being seen. BUT. At midnight, after we're all tucked in and comfy... the fire alarm starts going off everywhere. And doesn't stop. Then, the hotel staff start coming around KNOCKING ON DOORS telling us to evacuate to the parking lot.

We are hiding a DOG from you, we can't "evacuate to the parking lot"!!

Long story short, there was no fire, and the fire trucks finally left about 1am. We snuck Abby back out on Sunday morning amongst 23 housekeepers who never saw her.

Whew.

I did leave my MBA school books at the hotel amidst the mayhem, so we did end up paying something extra in the end, in lieu of the dog fee we were dreading. I'm pretty sure that's God teaching me a lesson.

(I got no pictures of us in the hotel. Guess I was a little distracted.)

Love,
Josh, Kim & Abby

"I made it Momma!"

We got here in one piece!!

More to come about our drive up here and our stuff arriving... stay tuned!

Love,
Josh, Kim & Abby

"Momma, they forgot something!"

Abby wanted to make sure she wasn't left behind.

Everything's gone!
We'll see it again at 7am on Monday morning....
in Louisville, Kentucky!!

Love,
Josh, Kim & Abby

Had to share...

This is how the movers are currently moving all our stuff into the truck:


They've lined our stairs with cardboard and are SLIDING all our stuff down! LOL

Love,
Josh, Kim & Abby

Surrounded by boxes

Packers came today! Our whole life is currently in boxes around me. It's an eery feeling, honestly.

Took three guys 6 hours to pack it all up. It was quite a process, but they were very organized and polite. I think I saw on his paperwork that there are somewhere around 110 boxes altogether.

Funny sidenote: Although we may have entirely too much stuff, we didn't know exactly how much we had or how much it weighed. So, when the Air Force was asking Josh how much we should be authorized to move, he told them the maximum amount, just so we'd be safe.

The maximum is 18,000 pounds.
They had a semi-truck scheduled to come move us.

Needless to say, when the survey lady came last week, she looked around and said, "This is it? I need to cancel the semi."








And as if this day weren't traumatic enough for a puppy, my little one got stung by a bee on her foot while we were outside trying to distract her from the craziness inside. She's currently pumped full of Benadryl which has knocked her out, but she was one pitiful Abigail there for awhile!


Tomorrow's the big day! Say some prayers!!

Love,
Josh, Kim & Abby