There is life after 25...

You know when I was young I thought 25 was an eternity. I never thought that it would be this easy and this fun. My husband is amazing and treats me wonderfully. My band is incredible and I really think we are going places. My family... there are no words to say how kind and amazing my family is. And then there are my friends. The friends that show up to a gig on a Thursday night and they have to work the next day, and the friends that stay at a bar, just because your having fun. Friends that are with you whenever you need and friends that give you great freakin' earings for you birthday.

I thank God for all the friends I have, and all the ones I am still getting to know. I thank God for making life interesting and beautiful. I appreciate life and all it has to offer and I hope one day My husband and I will bring a life into this world. Thanks to everyone who is in either of these catagory's for you all make life what it is. Adventurous and Wonderful. What I have learned in 25 years is to be thankful and to give compliments to people that could use them. Another person smiling brings a smile to my face and it could do the same for another. We are all friends and family and lovers. So be thankful... especially to those who bleed into one or more catagory, like the olympic rings. Thanks to all of you who are wonderful and keep a smile on my face.

I'm Driving a Convertible!!!!!

So yesterday, I am sitting at home, waiting to go out to dinner. I knew my hubby would be home at about 5:30ish so when there was a knock at the front door I should have figured something was up. But I didn't.

He asked me to come help him with some stuff outside and there it was.... my new, red convertable. Oh yes!!! It was the most beautifu thing ever. I have been on this convertable kick since I was 16. Man and now I have one. Can you believe my husband surprised me with a car? A convertable and today is HIS birthday.

I often ask myself how lucky I am to have found such a wonderful guy and for him to be so selfless, that on HIS birthday he gets me a gift. I love this man more than life!
Can this life get any better... I often ask myself. And then I answer yes, I get to spend another year and day and hour with my loving husband. So today I am going driving in my BRAND SPANKIN NEW CONVERTABLE! with 6 disc in dash CD. Damn. I can't wait to drive all of my friends around. But save room for my husband... he has perma-shotgun!

I'm in the Wall Street Journal

To Snag a Job Offer,Learn What DamageYou Do in Interviews
By JOANN S. LUBLINMay 2, 2006; Page B1

William Olson has switched employers seven times in 25 years, usually because a search firm pursued him. His success stems in part from his refusal to cooperate unless the recruiter promises to give him frank feedback about his performance during interviews.
He became a regional manager at Guinness Brewing North America, for example, after a recruiter recommended he tone down his aggressive manner. He rose to the top post there five years later. "With good feedback, you can adapt during the recruitment process," says Mr. Olson, now president and chief executive officer of MRINetwork, a Philadelphia search firm.
That's one way to solve a persistent problem. Most job seekers never recognize the shortcomings that kept them from a job -- and so go on to repeat them. The fix: Persuade key players that you will all benefit from an honest reaction.

Lacking a strong rapport with a recruiter, you may never learn about mistakes made. "It's not my job to tell candidates why they didn't get the job," especially if they were a poor fit, treated the receptionist rudely or looked disheveled, says Dora Vell, managing partner of Vell & Associates, a high-tech search boutique in Waltham, Mass.
Yet sometimes, Ms. Vell does help contenders who help her. She recalls one IBM general manager who lost his bid to run a division of a major business-services company last summer. He talked excessively about his lengthy finance experience during the job interviews. "He spoke like a CFO," she says.

When the manager met Ms. Vell for coffee months later, he casually inquired about his failed candidacy. She divulged his blunder because he had opened doors for other Vell clients keen to do business with IBM. "I would definitely present him again for a general manager's position," she says.

Try to solicit criticism from recruiters without sounding defensive. "Some of my best clients are former candidates I have coached through more than one search" because they showed willingness to hear constructive feedback, reports Jordan Hadelman, chairman and CEO of Witt/Kieffer, an Oak Brook, Ill., firm specializing in health-care hunts.
Well-prepared, neutral questions "can distill out a pretty accurate picture" after a turndown, says Gary Ambrosino, chief executive of Sensicast Systems. The Needham, Mass., manufacturer represents his ninth start-up. He suggests asking a recruiter, "Was there anything that made me less competitive?" Another nonthreatening query: "Tell me about the person who got the job."
However, outside recruiters don't always know the real reason that employers reject prospects. And hiring managers rarely cooperate. "They are too busy," a 52-year-old merchandising director frets. Though she has interviewed with nine companies since her August layoff, only one hiring manager provided feedback.

When you request a hiring manager's reaction, emphasize your continued interest in working there. The best time "is at the end of your interview," advises Jeff Kaye, CEO of recruiters Kaye/Bassman International in Plano, Texas. "You may reignite interest in a dead deal." He has hired people he initially rejected because they dug hard to understand why or pledged to fix deficiencies he cited -- such as repeating "you know" 64 times within 15 minutes.

A Kaye/Bassman managing partner interviewed dot-com business manager Andrea Chamberlain last spring for a recruiter's spot. As their session concluded, he told the curious applicant that she was unqualified.
She reiterated her strengths. "I may not have the recruiting experience you're looking for," Ms. Chamberlain remembers saying. "But I have the energy, I'm motivated and I want to work for your company."

Kaye/Bassman subsequently invited her to interview with a different managing partner. He hired her the day they met.
You might find other ways to learn why you didn't get picked. Mr. Ambrosino says his most accurate assessments of his turndowns have come from board members and investors he already knows.

With knowledge comes the power to repair correctable flaws. A Dallas high-tech executive unsuccessfully sought to become chief operating officer of a small concern in late 2005. The outside recruiter informed him that he had acted a little nervous and lacked skills needed to take a company public. The executive quickly changed tactics, and got a job offer elsewhere.
"Simply being told that you presented as 'nervous' or 'weak' doesn't provide any concrete, usable feedback," remarks Donna Schwarz, a partner at ImpactCommunicationExecutive, a New York communication-coaching firm. She suggests a good coach could help polish your inadequate interviewing skills through techniques tailored to your personality.

Can't afford a coach? Conduct mock job interviews with friends. "Or, listen to your enemies," Ms. Vell proposes. "Maybe they have a point. Hear what you don't want to hear."