April Favorites + Life Lately

Each month seems to go by faster than the last am I right? It’s the end of April and it was a good month for me! Before I dive into my favorites for the month, I wanted to share a bit of what’s been going on in my life lately. If you follow me on Instagram, you’re already up to speed.

After 12 years of working for the same company I resigned from my job. Honestly I’ve been pretty miserable in my job for several years. When we got the notice that our site would be closing and we’d be relocating to Raleigh, I said to my husband “how am I going to move to another city for a job that I hate?”

I knew that moving to Raleigh was the right move for us and that there was so much opportunity for career growth. In order to accept the relocation package we had to agree to stay with the company for a year. That was fine with me because I figured I’d get a better position within the company.

Over the past few years I’ve applied to multiple jobs within the company. More than anyone should have to honestly. And I only got one phone screen in that entire time. It was closer to when we moved here.

Since then there has been a lot of changes within management and restructuring and sometimes the circumstances kept my desire to leave at bay. When overtime was available, which was about 70% of the time, I was good. But without overtime things didn’t add up.

At the end of the day I really wanted to be making the amount of money I made when I worked overtime without putting in 50-60 hours a week. I wanted to feel like I made a difference in my work, some sense of contribution.

I had outgrown my role years ago and was ready for a challenge. Ready to learn something new and flex my brain muscles in a different way. Basically I was way beyond feeling overworked, undervalued and underpaid.

Back in August we went to Busch Gardens. I don’t think I ever did a full recap of that on my blog. While I was there two things happened: (1) my coworker texted me to tell me they had cut overtime. That was not what I wanted to hear when I was spending a lot of money on our little family trip. (2) I got an email from an outside company for a phone screen.

That was my first job I applied to outside of the company. Although I didn’t end up moving on with that role, it gave me hope. Because here it was my first job that I applied to and I got traction whereas I hadn’t gotten that within my own company.

Fast forward to now. I didn’t apply to jobs all of the time, but I had made up my mind that I was leaving. The truth is I was afraid to leave and start over. It’s scary to leave a company and job you’ve been with over a decade.

I was afraid before we moved to Raleigh about leaving the company and that fear has only had time to grow. A few weeks ago, after a lot of changes within my job and the encouragement of Tik Tok videos, I said to myself, afraid or not, we’re going to make this change.

Because I’m worth more than this. I deserve more and so does my family. At the very least they deserve to have a wife and mother who doesn’t hate their job.

I was browsing on LinkedIn one afternoon and saw a position had recently been posted with the same company I had the phone screen with before. After reading the description it sounded a lot like the roles I was applying to with my company that I wanted and wasn’t getting anywhere with.

So I applied and said a little prayer. Within a day or so the recruiter reached out to me. Then we had our phone screen and it was a good vibe. A couple of days later I got an email from them saying the company wanted to move forward with a phone screen!

The phone screen went well and after speaking with the first hiring manager he said he’ll move me on to the next one. Which was a few minutes later! My second phone interview was even better and not only did I feel like this was the right role for me, I liked the energy I felt with both of the managers.

If you’ve ever worked in a toxic environment with poor leadership you’ll understand. I wanted to cry when I got off the phone because it just felt so right! Two days later I got the job offer!

via GIPHY

I started my new job last week! And even though it’s been scary to leave and start afresh I can’t tell you how good it feels! I feel like a weight has been lifted off of my shoulders! I’m making more money, learning new skills and actually using the finance degree that I worked hard for all those years ago!

Are you still with me? I know this is a longer post but I had to share the backstory. I’m just so grateful for my new role and it’s only the beginning! The tide is turning and great things are happening for me and my family!

This past week was also my daughter’s birthday! How I’m old enough to have a 17 year old is beyond me! I don’t have good pictures from that day but prom is coming up and hopefully she’ll let me post a pic or two here on the blog.

As for the month of April’s life happenings that covers it! Now let’s move on to my April Favorites.

*this post includes affiliate links for your shopping convenience, you can read more about affiliate links by reading my Disclosure*

APRIL FAVORITES

I’ve had to add a few pieces to my wardrobe and I shared a small Loft haul and Nordstrom Rack haul over on my Tik Tok. I linked the items from my Nordstrom Rack haul here.

Recently Sephora had it’s annual Spring Sale and I didn’t pick up much, but I finally got my hands on a Patrick Ta creme and powder blush duo I’ve wanted to try for a while. I got the color She’s Baked.

I also picked up a couple of brushes from the Sephora pro line and the one I’ve started using daily is this pro concealer brush. Definitely recommend this brush!

One thing I haven’t had much need for in the past couple of years is a new handbag. But with work I need to take a lot with me because we have smart desks with no storage. I decided to invest in a classic structured bag since all I had was a crossbody bag and a large slouchy bag.

Originally I was going to get a laptop bag because for my previous job we would have to take our work laptops with us when we would work in office. I got this laptop bag that would have fit my work laptop but not my personal laptop. So I returned it but I did like the bag.

If you are in the market for a laptop bag I shared this collage on my LTK awhile back.

Speaking of workbags, I picked up a lunch bag from Amazon too. I got this print because it had a coupon otherwise I would’ve picked up a more neutral option for a few more dollars but it’s a lunch bag so I’ll save a couple of bucks.

As part of a book club, I picked up a very popular book called Verity by Colleen Hoover. I’m not going to spoil it for you, but it’s completely out of my genre preference and yet I couldn’t put it down!

My Amazon cart is pretty full right now so I think there will be an Amazon post coming up soon 🙂

It took me awhile to jump on the bandwagon, but I’m obsessed with Wordle! Do you play? I don’t share my scores everyday but from time to time I will on Twitter when I’m feeling impressive! ha!

APRIL REWIND

To wrap up this long post I’m sharing a few of my favorite and most popular LTK posts. The past few weeks I haven’t been on top of things with sharing content and my newsletter. Now that I’ve finished my second week of work I feel like I’m getting back on track.