It might finally be happening...

I got a job.

I am the new assistant baker at a local Earth Fare. It's a full time position and they let us play around with recipes and suggest new ones if we want. I've only worked two shifts but I love going in each day. Today would have been better if I had some coffee as soon as I got there and was 100x better after I had some at lunch. I'm happy and am really looking forward to not being flat broke anymore.

Could this be it? Could Margaret have really have found something to be for the time being?

I'm still not giving up on the search but, for now, it is just so refreshing not to be depressed and shitting my pants in fear of rejection. I don't need to worry about my resume or feel like I'm begging people to talk to me. No more calling my parents for rent money. Huzzah!

I'm still 100% convinced that I will go for my PhD some day and am not taking the idea of going to grad school for my English master's next year off the table. I still have a whole lot of decisions to make but at least now I don't have to feel like I have to make these life-altering decisions asap.

In other news, Andy and I did not start vegan month on the first like we had plan. A massive, sugary, buttery, delicious wrench was thrown into our plans: the annual Harvest Market care package...

For those of you who don't know, Harvest Market is the most magical, New England-tastic, wonderful thing of the year, besides Christmas. Ever since my parents moved to Vermont before I was born, and even after we moved to Maine when I was four, my family has gone to Harvest Market in Underhill, Vermont. My dad is one of the quintessential Harvest Market icons: the town crier. He stands outside the food tent and hollers, VERY loudly, what all they have available inside. The food is amazing. Cookies, whoopie pies, fried dough, beer-batter onion rings, fresh cut fries, homemade soups, pies, maple sugar cotton candy, Mountain High pizza, corn on the cob, cider donuts... OH MY!!!

The biggest travesty in my life has been my inability to attend Harvest Market ever since moving to Knoxville. Knoxville is a tiny airport, as is Burlington, and flying from tiny airport to tiny airport is HORRENDOUSLY expensive; I've never been able to justify the blow to my tiny budget. So, every year, my mom grabs up a sampling of every travel-friendly food at Harvest Market and mails it to the south. This year's package was particularly huge because she wanted to make sure there was enough for both Andy and myself... it arrived Thursday, aka September 30th.

We'll be starting the cleanse as soon as the last crumb has been swallowed and will add whatever days are missed to the end of the month. Yes, this means waiting for Halloween candy until after the date and being a pain in the ass while visiting my cousin's in D.C. for the Rally to Restore Sanity (I'll talk about this in a later post), but hopefully it'll be worth it!

Everything's looking up, guys!