Well, ....At least I've got something I can frame.

If you have a college degree you can be absolutely sure of one thing... you have a college degree. ~Author Unknown

I spent the last 4 years working at school....pulling all-nighters, working in groups, working alone, making and studying flash-cards, reviewing tests and quizzes to correct mistakes, doing homework, writing papers, being a research assistant to grad student research assistant, studying in another country to learn another language, volunteering at a local zoo in my spare time, ....all of this and more to obtain a degree and experiences that would lead me to having a career. I have a B.S. but I don't have a J.O.B.

I've usually had an idea of what is right for me and have been confidant that I could attain it with enough work. I wanted to be a cheerleader when I was little, and I was from 7th grade -12th, captain for the last two years. I wanted to be a straight-A student (partially because my parents wanted me to be) and I usually was, until college anyway, where it was more A's, B's, and every now and again a C. I only wanted to go to UGA, I only applied to UGA, and I went to UGA. I wanted a minor in Spanish, and along the way, I lived with a family in Costa Rica for the better part of a study abroad trip. I'm even engaged to the guy that I fell for in 9th grade (Granted that has a lot more to do with BOTH of us being in love,wanting it to work and working for it).

And since I can remember, all I've wanted to do is work with animals. When I was little, I wanted to be a vet. When I got older, I wanted to be a dolphin trainer. (Still do, kind of). Then, in college, that turned to zoo keeper so that I could stay in Georgia. And when I graduated, I got a position as keeper intern at Zoo Atlanta. And I was pathetically naive about the length of time I would need to be an intern when I first started there. After a few weeks, it was more than evident that you don't get hired into a keeper position after a few months of interning. Some of those keepers interned for a year or more before getting a keeper position. And interns aren't paid at the zoo. Keepers are barely paid at the zoo.

So....here's the thing: Were I to continue towards that, I would have to work at another job in the meantime to make some money. Yes, I'm getting married soon to someone who will make way more money than I could even try to make, but I'd like to contribute-we aren't going to start off with a lot. And we need something in savings. And then, after I worked and interned for a year or two, I might get a keeper position. Where I would be doing physical labor all day, coming home completely exhausted, with a low salary and my "weekend" would be in the middle of the week whenever they told me it would be upon being hired-so I'd never get to hang out with Tom and just relax.

Now, there are some REALLY awesome things about being a keeper, and being an intern, I've gotten to experience some of those things. I really like the people that I've worked with, and I really love the animals. They have so much personality, and there is not much other way you get to really interact with those kind of unique animals. But, I have to weigh the good against the bad, and honestly, the idea of having no weekends with Tom and family/friends, of being tired and smelly all the time, and of having so little pay for all of that-it just isn't outweighed by the fact that I love these animals. And that's only if I ever get hired as a keeper.

So, this is where I'm at. I'm a college graduate with a B.S. in psychology and a minor in Spanish. I love animals, and I worked for four years towards getting a degree to let me work with them, only to find out that it's not right for me-at least not at the zoo. And now I need to make money and to hopefully find a job I'm not embarrassed to do with a college degree and that I will enjoy. WOW. This is not the time to find this out, huh?

So here are my thoughts so far-Kristen mentioned that she had a friend who worked at a hotel and was eventually made manager, so I've looked into applying to some hotels. Then, there's the idea of working as a wedding planner...only I don't know how to get into that business, other than looking up local wedding planners/event planners online at yellowpages.com. And finally, I've picked up some business cards of obedience trainers for dogs, and I need to call them. That might be something I would enjoy. Other than that, I'm still searching.

It's probably one of the most humbling experiences of my life to date, to know that I don't have a CLUE what to do with myself and that college is over. I just always had this idea of myself working with animals...and maybe I still will. I'm just trying to trust God in this because He knows exactly where I'm headed, even if I don't, and I know He will only lead me well, but I need not to fight his will. I'm just praying for illumination and direction through this, and I could definitely use some extra prayers. It's times when I DON'T know how to go after something that make it hard. It's like I'm chomping at the bit to go after something, but don't have any sense of where to go get it. So I need the prayer.

~Meghan

Psalm 16:11-- Thou wilt make known to me the path of life; in Thy presence is fulness of joy; in Thy right hand there are pleasures forever.

Underway

It's safe to say that a lot of the key ingredients of Tom and my wedding is taken care of. I have my dress, shoes, and veil picked out as well as the bridesmaids dresses. Tom and I have gone with our moms to look at churches, reception sites, and rehearsal dinner locations, all of which have been decided upon. Tom's even working on making us a more personalized wedding website based on what we both want it to be. Right now, we're using this one. We've settled on a band as well, a band we danced to and were impressed by at a Great Gatsby Datenight thrown by Gamma Phi Beta my last semester.

We also have our photographer picked out, and I couldn't be more excited to have her. Her name is Christine Hall, and she is AMAZING in her profession. Her work has been in several magazines, and she's actually doing the cover photography for Paula Deen's magazine in December. Based out of Savannah, she's going to be traveling to our area to do our wedding. But we'll be going to her for our engagement photos. We'll be having them taken in Savannah on September 22nd-downtown and out at Tybee. I'm so excited! Now Tom and I need to figure out what to wear...

Here are some links to the different venues and services we'll be using, so far:

The Church: Holy Cross Anglican Church
The Reception: Vines Botanical Garden
The Rehearsal Dinner: Evergreen Marriott Conference Resort, Rotunda Room
The Music: Psuedo/Parrothead Paradise
The Photography: Christine Hall Photography

I love quotes

I heard about a movie called Becoming Jane today-it's starring Anne Hathaway and based on how Jane Austin became who she was. Anyway, I was looking at stuff about the movie online, and I saw this quote from it.

"What value will there ever be in life, if we aren't together?"

I really liked that quote, probably because I'm the type of girl who has a romantic heart-always wanted someone to fall in love in a movie or book. I think the idea of someone being so in love that their life wouldn't have the same worth without the other person is pretty much summed up in that quote, and it got me curious about the movie. I've read a little about Jane Austin's personal life, and I'm interested to see how they portray it now that I've read some of the quotes from the movie. That was one of my favorites from what was listed online. It's just a good line, even if it's not perfectly accurate. =)
~Megs