Catch up

My friend Gina just called to tell me that she was catching up on my blog, and noticed that Google had placed an ad for Bally on my page. Ha! Oh, Google ads. Anyway... I dropped that letter in the mail on Thursday night. Then on Friday morning when I got in to work, I had an email response from the request I submitted through the BTF website. They're canceling my membership. Damn now I feel like an ass because I bitched them out in this letter, and then they do what I ask before the letter even arrives. Oh well.

My HUGE news: I completed and passed the AICPA ethics exam 2 weeks ago, so I am DONE with all exams required for my CPA license!!!!! DONE!!! Last week I mailed in my application with the $250 application fee. After they approve my application, I have to send in another check to cover the annual license fee. Thankfully my employer will reimburse me for that. I also had to have my fingerprints taken via LiveScan, which was $30 PLUS $50 for an FBI and DOL background clearance check. Good Lord! They don't make this affordable! I've heard it can take 5 months until I'll get my license and number. I'll keep you posted!

Here is the necklace that I made for Marilyn, the winner of my anniversary giveaway. (That's scrapbook paper, not something I dropped water on.)


And here is a necklace I made for myself. I bought more of these beads, crazy lace agate, so I can make more because I've gotten tons of compliments on it.

I've secured my etsy shop name and URL! I don't currently have any jewelry assembled or listed for sale. I'll let you know when I do!

My super adorable, chubby-bunny nephew will be 10 months old on Wednesday. He's crawling now and just started clapping last week. He's also able to walk while holding onto toys or furniture. He had an unfortunate accident in which he let go of his Intellitainer while walking, fell, and hit his mouth. He broke one of his front teeth and had to have it extracted. Poor baby now has a missing tooth until his permanent one comes in! Here's the silly little monkey, affectionately known at home as "Hillbilly Landon".


And here's a sweet picture of Landy watching Pirates of the Caribbean with his daddy. Too bad my brother had to go and ruin the moment! Thank goodness for photo editing! (Yes, my dad has a 58" TV.)


Peace & love.
J

DONE!

I just got my fourth exam score and I am DONE!!!

I do still need to take an ethics exam, but that has no bearing on these last 4 exams. I can fail the ethics exam, and I will not lose the others.

I AM DONE!!!

Oh hi

Yeah, I know, I've been away for quite a while. Life is hectic and stressful right now. Found out I failed that damn test again. I got a 72 and all I need is a 75 to pass. Well, I'll pass next time. 4th time's a charm, right? I'll elaborate more in, like, May when I have time, but I have to take 2 exams in April. It's also busy season for accountants right now, and I'm required to work 50 billable hours per week. Not just 50 hours, but 50 billable hours. So if I do stuff that's not billable, those hours are on top of the 50 hours. Awesome, right? And of course that leaves plenty of time to study for 2 exams... I'm losing my mind. I really am.

But I'm not the only one who's a little ticked right now... Let's join Bobby in boycotting Orbitz.com, shall we? Yay for banding together against a-holes and companies that "provide" bad customer "service"!

I hope you all are well.

Peace and love.

Julie

Studying again & other updates

I'm retaking the BEC portion of the CPA exam on Thursday, February 26th. I'm really nervous and as of now, I don't feel nearly prepared enough. I'm planning to study a TON tonight, tomorrow and every day after work. I'm also taking Wednesday off work to stay home and cram. Please pray for my memory, stress level, and motivation!

I spent the last 2 weeks in LA on a client I've worked on for 4 years now. I'm finally done, and I never have to see that horrible client again! YAY!! Before that I was working from my office in San Jose for a week, and before that I was working in Sausalito for 2 weeks! I've been traveling way too much and I'm happy to finally be home!

My beautiful, perfect nephew Landon John was born on Monday, February 9! I've only seen him twice since he was born. I missed his birth because I was in LA so I saw him Friday night and Sunday last weekend. I'm going to take a study break for a family dinner at my parent's house tonight, so I get to see him in a few short hours. I'll definitely post pictures after my exam on Thursday.

Another update - I still haven't heard from the pervert caller since January 11. I think my police report threat was effective!

Peace and love.
J

Moving forward

One other crappy tidbit that most of you don't know is that the audit exam I passed 18 months ago "expires" on November 24. So since I failed this most recent exam, I lose the audit exam. Now I have to take TWO exams to get that license. One step forward, two steps back...

I checked and received my failing score at midnight on Saturday (as I had just gotten home from the Carrie Underwood concert and then a drink out for my friend's birthday). My score was 67. 75 is needed to pass. As you can imagine I was quite upset. I didn't get out of bed until 4:30pm on Sunday (with the exception of bathrooms breaks, during which I cried the entire time I was awake). Then when I did get out of bed, I cried for the next two hours until I made my dad invite me over for dinner because I told him I couldn't be alone. Taking a shower and getting out of the house really made things better. I had decided in my hysteria that I was over it; I can't do this anymore and I won't do this anymore. I've spent too much time on this already, and it's been SO costly on my mental health and overall happiness. Like I've said before, these exams have been a huge burden on my shoulders for three and a half years! and they've been stifling my creativity and ability to feel free.

But of course, after the hysteria, I'm still VERY upset but I've decided that I can't throw away those other two exams that I passed and have not yet expired. And God has a way of getting a message across at the right time... I'm in LA for the week for work because there is a client I've worked on for the past 3 years, this year is my fourth year, and they just can't let me off of it yet. This will be my final year on the client, I just need to transition it over to another senior. Since I'm in LA I was hoping to get together with some of my friends. Kirstin invited me to come to a Bible study with some other friends from church tonight. I went to the Bible study where we read Exodus 16 and shared about what makes us "grumble" in life. I shared that I grumble about giving my all and working my butt off and then failing. I forget exactly how the conversation progressed, but then our leader said, that grumbling is not being a good steward of our resources or talents (or brain). And I'm like, God? Are you talking to me?


In other news, I went to the gym at the hotel tonight and I was able to ride the recumbent bike for an entire 30 minutes! yeah! go me!

And in other news, my brother and his girlfriend got engaged on Saturday!

peace and love,
J

:(

I didn't pass the fucking exam.

Update

Thanks for the prayers and well wishes. I know you all want to know about my cat's litter box habits... :) Charlotte has been able to go potty without too much straining today! YAY! I can tell she's starting to feel better because she's been using her scratching post, which she hasn't for a couple days, and last night she snuck out the front door when I came home from the grocery store. She usually tries to get out when I come home, but hadn't been feeling so stealth the last few days. Her favorite part of all this is that the doctor recommended I get her some of the prescription diet food in the canned format until this problem subsides, AND I got a little tuna to mix her medication in. Salome, thanks for the info on the urinary formula food. Good to know they have it at the pet store. I will have to check that out because I was not looking forward to spending double the money cat food ( I was already buying the $20 for 6 pounds variety). Nor was I looking forward to trekking across town to the veterinarian everytime I need to buy some.

Now that things are looking up around here, I'm hoping I can really buckle down on focus on cramming for that test!

Peace and love,
J

Charlotte feels yucky

Hi blog friends,

My Charlotte kitty has not been feeling well, so I wanted to just share the story with you all so you know what we're going through and maybe you have some advice, shared experiences, or can at the very least pray or think happy thoughts for my baby girl.

(I initially wrote the following as an email to a friend to explain what was going on, so instead of re-typing it all, I'm just going to paste it here.)

She was unable to both urinate and defecate for at least 24 hours starting Sunday night. (And I was terribly worried because if cats can't do their business, they'll die from toxicity.) I initially thought she was constipated because she was straining and the last time she had a urinary infection, she was still able to go #2 and there was blood in the box when she tried to urinate. In the absence of those two things, I assumed it was constipation. Then on Monday morning I realized that she hadn't been urinating either. That's when I called the vet to make an appointment and the only availability was for Tuesday around noon. I was very worried, to the point of being useless at work, because she still hadn't urinated by the time I left for work on Tuesday. Then, right before I took her to the vet yesterday, she was able to do a little of both. But she was leaking urine on her bed. So they emptied her bladder at the vet's office and took a sample to do some tests. This morning she was still unable to urinate, was straining in her box repeatedly, and actually laid down IN her litter box for 15 minutes while I was getting ready for work. I almost started crying when I saw her. I would have thought it was funny under different circumstances. So I called the vet around 9 and the Dr didn't call me back until noon. He said he wanted me to bring her back in at 3 and said that because she was having problems going #2, he was worried that she may have a growth. And that would mean she'd have to have surgery which would cost me thousands of dollars, which I cannot afford, so I'd have to put her down, so I started to cry (at my client's office) and I couldn't stop crying. So I left the client at 1 and came home.

Charlotte had actually been able to go a little bit of both #1 and #2 while I was gone, so that was a major relief. I never would have thought I'd be so happy to see cat pee! I took her to the vet at 3 and they took her in the back and left me in the lobby for an hour and a half. That was fine because I chatted with the receptionist, other people bringing in their pets, and I got to pet a few dogs. (I really LOVE this veterinarian and I'm so glad I found them. Thanks yelp.com!) Then when they finally took me back to talk to the Dr., he showed me a test tube of her urine. About 1/4 of it was crystals that looked like sugar and then there was a little layer of red on top of the crystals, which he said was blood. This means she has Feline Bladder Disease, which means her bladder and urethra are inflamed. He suspects that the urethra is so inflamed, it's making the hole very small, and when she squeezes her bladder to urinate, it squeezes the hole closed so nothing can come out. Additionally, he said he bladder muscle is weak and squeezes at about half the force/strength it should. She may also have a UTI, so she's still on a little bit of antibiotics. He gave me anti-inflammatory pills that I have to give her once a day and a medication that is supposed to make her bladder muscle squeeze with more force. AND now she has to be on prescription food that's specially formulated for urinary problems, which is supposed to reduce the accumulation of crystals in her bladder. He hopes that all that will make the current problem go away and keep future flare ups at a minimum. I really hope so! I was quite worried for a while that I'd lose her. :(

I'm taking tomorrow and Friday off so I can study because my exam is on Saturday! I've been useless at work all week because I've been worried about Charlotte and stressed that I couldn't focus on studying. Hopefully I can be calm tomorrow since I'll be home with her and have 2 full days to study.

Thanks in advance for your prayers and happy thoughts! (Let's hope my baby can pee freely!)

J

Here are some pictures of Charlotte that I took last Friday.

Stress!

I am taking the Business and Economic Concepts (BEC) portion of the CPA exam on Saturday, October 25. If I pass it, I will be DONE! If I do not pass, I'm screwed... I lose the Audit (AUD) exam that I passed and I have to take both AUD and BEC again. Needless to say, I am studying my butt off so that there is no other option than to pass. Please, if you're the praying type, remember me in your prayers that I might learn and retain this information, that I might not have anxiety, and that I may be calm while taking the exam. Thank you!

Peace and love.
J

P.S. After this exam my life begins! I have big plans for getting back to exercising, being creative, and just overall enjoying life (and my freedom from exams)!

Update

Just a quick post to make a whole ton of announcements...

I'm going to be an aunt. My brother and his girlfriend are expecting a baby in February.
I'm moving to San Jose to be closer to my family (and be an aunt in person).
I'm moving in NINE days!!
I'm transferring with my same company, and I will have a lot more opportunities and a lot more work in the SJ office.
I passed the CPA exam that I took in July!!! One more left and then I'm done forever!!
I went to New Hampshire for the wedding of my good friends Ken & Kirstin. It was a beautiful wedding, a super fun reception, and an overall great trip/mini-vacation.
Charlotte is still super cute and happy that I'm done traveling. She had a flea infestation, but thank God, I think they're all gone.

I'll be back with more posts after my move. I'm taking my fourth, and final, exam on October 25, so maybe I won't be back until after that. Who knows. My posts are infrequent and unreliable!

J

Exam "news"

Yesterday at 8:30 in the morning I took the Financial Accounting and Reporting (FAR) section of the CPA exam. It sucked majorly. I had so much anxiety about the exam that I made myself sick Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. I take medication for generalized anxiety disorder, but that was just not cutting it for this level of stress. The anxiety also caused me to suffer from insomnia for the past two weeks. I have NEVER in my adult life not been able to go to sleep. If anything, I sleep too much. The past two weeks were agonizing. I had no idea how painful and frustrating insomnia is.

I've already taken and failed this portion of the exam twice. There are 4 exams, of which I have passed 2 so far. I'm taking the next one August 16. The exams are only "good" for 18 months, so the first one I passed expires on November 24. I totally plan on passing the one next month because it's the shortest exam/has the least material to memorize. So, if I didn't pass FAR yesterday, I have one more chance to take it and pass it in October before I lose my first exam.

Here's the thing with FAR - It's the longest test - 4 hours. The review book is about 2 inches thick. There are about 32 topics that I have to know. The review course to cover all of this is 40 hours long (not consecutively). Needless to say, that is a shit-load of stuff I need to know. My brain just does NOT have the capacity for that volume of information. As I was taking the test, I recognized all the material, but there were too many times where I read the question and thought to myself, "I know this. I've studied this. BUT, I studied this a week or two ago, and I just can't remember what the correct answer is." That SUCKS!

Yesterday after the exam I was completely exhausted. I took a short nap, but I really wanted to go out and eat some good food. I'd been cooped up in my apartment, getting nauseous from eating anything but cereal all week. Went out for tasty Mexican with Danielle and then we met up with another friend to see Wanted. (Totally awesome movie if you can tolerate graphic violence.) I was awake and energetic all night last night. Today, however, I came home from church around noon and slept until 6. I only woke up because I figured I wouldn't be able to sleep tonight, but I'm still feeling lethargic and tired. Feels so amazing to be able to fall asleep.

Peace and love.
J

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! My prayer for you is that you will be richly blessed this coming year and that you will share those blessings with everyone you interact with. Share God's love and be a light in the lives of those who need encouragement or do not know Him.

My resolution for 2007 is to study a lot, and more productively, in order to pass the CPA exam.

Health update: My ear nose & throat doctor finally returned my calls, and my sinus CT was normal. Back to square one with trying to figure out what's up. My dad is convinced that I'm allergic to LA and need to move back to Northern California. I have an appointment with an allergist next week.

Peace and love,
J

my life...

If anyone out there reads this and/or cares... I've been engulfed in the world of Financial Accounting and Reporting. Yes, I'm finally back to studying for the CPA exam. I MUST pass all 4 exams in 2007. Not only for the whopping $2000 bonus, (which, after taxes, I'll probably only get half of and that won't even cover the costs of my CPA prep/review class) but because I REALLY, REALLY want to get this behind me so I can go on living and enjoying my life without the stress of "I still have to pass that exam..." And hopefully the CPA exam will be the last test I ever have to take.

So in addition to the stress of studying, I've cut sugar, bread, acidic foods and caffeine out of my life in a self-prescribed attempt to get rid of this obnoxious sinus problem I've been suffering from for MONTHS! I had to diagnose myself since my Ear/Nose/Throat Dr. won't return my calls about what my CT scan revealed. Oh man has it been hard not eating sugar, bread, and coffee. If you know me, you know that I have a sweet tooth and LOVE bread AND I think of myself as a coffee connoisseur of sorts (I have my own espresso machine, which is so sad and unused right now). The good news is that I was able to stay on the diet for ONE entire week! and I feel like it has helped a bit, AND I lost 5 pounds. IN ONE WEEK! wow. And then I was at a client's office and he physically placed a cookie in my hand! (who does that?!) so I felt obliged to eat it. =)

While I do feel that the "cleanse" diet has helped a bit, I still feel yucky in the sinus area. If you wouldn't mind adding me to your prayers, I would GREATLY appreciate it!

Peace and love.
J

Gettin this party started

Welcome to my blog. Not much to it yet, but I'm just getting started. I don't know what I'll write here since I like to keep my innermost thoughts private and some things no one would care to read about. There isn't much in my life that is thrilling enough to write about in a blog and interest the general public. I'm sure no one wants to hear about being an auditor. For now I'll share with you a few of my favorite websites that you can check out...

****www.pbase.com - Where thousands of photographers from all over the world post their photos. Anyone can browse through them. Most people leave their albums public, but some are private. There are "Picture A Day" galleries and contests, links to "Favorite" photos and photographers.

****www.greyswriters.com - Where the writers of Grey's Anatomy blog about the episodes right after they're aired (Thursdays at 9pm on ABC). I know it's essentially a soap-opera, but I'm hooked on this show!

****www.johnmayer.com/blog - Where John Mayer reveals his humor and amazing personality. Not only is he a phenomenal artist, he's also quite a comedian.

****http://elevation-youth.blogspot.com - The high school youth group of Westside Christian Fellowship and Pacifica Christian High where I'm on the leader team

I'm currently in the process of studying for and taking the CPA exams, so I really shouldn't be blogging at all! I should spend every spare moment studying for these darned exams. Maybe I can blog at work when I have a few minutes of down time. (Shhh... don't tell my boss.)

Keep it real.
Julie