suzanne elizabeth anderson

There was a time when I was the queen of Neiman Marcus. Back in the day when I worked on Wall Street, I went to Neiman Marcus twice a year, Fall and Spring, to buy my business suits for the season. I bought five suits with matching blouses and spent what now seems like a ridiculous amount of money.

My priorities and circumstances have changed a great deal since then, (not least of which is that one of my life goals is never to wear a business suit again in my life). Back then my cosmetics were from Chanel and changed with the seasons. Now, make-up is less of a concern as I work from home. But these purchases also reflect the self-absorbed consumerism that drove my spending habits. I developed pet spending projects that became obsessions. When I took a trip overseas, one of the highlights was buying an Hermes scarf on the plane ride home. But then, if I had one scarf, wouldn't two be even better? And then there was my Steiff period in the mid-nineties, when I became an ardent col…

Today they announced healthy GDP numbers showing a 5.7% growth in the 4th quarter, quickly discounted by news commentators as an indication of inventory replenishment rather than a necessary predictor of job growth. This news seemed to be reflected by the job notice emails in my inbox. There were fewer than usual and I found that in more than one instance, when I clicked on the hyper-link, I was informed that I'd already applied to the job. That was a bit frustrating because I wanted to make more progress in the job hunt and feel that each day not moving forward is a day wasted. So today became a day of housekeeping, going through papers that had accumulated on my desk, writing, and other mundane but necessary tasks that keep our lives in order.

There are a couple jobs that I have (previously) applied to that I seem to be still under consideration for, which if I were given the opportunity, would really enjoy. At the same time, there continues to be in the back of my mind a desir…

Today they announced healthy GDP numbers showing a 5.7% growth in the 4th quarter, quickly discounted by news commentators as an indication of inventory replenishment rather than a necessary predictor of job growth. This news seemed to be reflected by the job notice emails in my inbox. There were fewer than usual and I found that in more than one instance, when I clicked on the hyper-link for the job, I was informed that I'd already applied to the job. That was a bit frustrating because I wanted to make more progress in the job hunt and feel that each day not moving forward is a day wasted. So today became a day of housekeeping, going through papers that had accumulated on my desk, writing, and other mundane but necessary tasks that keep our lives in order.

There are a couple jobs that I have (previously) applied to that I seem to be still under consideration for, which if I were given the opportunity, would really enjoy. At the same time, there continues to be in the back of my mi…

Today they announced healthy GDP numbers showing a 5.7% growth in the 4th quarter, quickly discounted by news commentators as an indication of inventory replenishment rather than a necessary predictor of job growth. This news seemed to be reflected by the job notice emails in my inbox. There were fewer than usual and I found that in more than one instance, when I clicked on the hyper-link for the job, I was informed that I'd already applied to the job. That was a bit frustrating because I wanted to make more progress in the job hunt and feel that each day not moving forward is a day wasted. So today became a day of housekeeping, going through papers that had accumulated on my desk, writing, and other mundane but necessary tasks that keep our lives in order.

There are a couple jobs that I have (previously) applied to that I seem to be still under consideration for, which if I were given the opportunity, would really enjoy. At the same time, there continues to be in the back of my mi…

Last night the President said that for all the success stories he'd heard about how the economy was turning around he also knew of people who 'sent out resumes every day and got no response'. At that moment I thought he was speaking of me. Before I moved to Evergreen, I truly imagined that as soon as I started sending out resumes in December, I'd have a job. I thought for sure I'd be starting my new career in January. I'd visualized the job I wanted, 'getting the call', even going to work, or better yet, working from my computer at home.

The reality has been quite different. It is now quickly closing on the end of January and I have not received one positive response to the resumes I've sent out, the jobs I've applied to, the online job boards I've joined. What I have received are daily emails from resume writing services, resume distribution services, services that promise to put my resume in the hands of recruiters, or to help me write a c…

Last night the President said that for all the success stories he'd heard about how the economy was turning around he also knew of people who 'sent out resumes every day and got no response'. At that moment I thought he was speaking of me. Before I moved to Evergreen, I truly imagined that as soon as I started sending out resumes in December, I'd have a job. I thought for sure I'd be starting my new career in January. I'd visualized the job I wanted, 'getting the call', even going to work, or better yet, working from my computer at home.

The reality has been quite different. It is now quickly closing on the end of January and I have not received one positive response to the resumes I've sent out, the jobs I've applied to, the online job boards I've joined. What I have received are daily emails from resume writing services, resume distribution services, services that promise to put my resume in the hands of recruiters, or to help me write a co…

Last night the President said that for all the success stories he'd heard about how the economy was turning around he also knew of people who 'sent out resumes every day and got no response'. At that moment I thought he was speaking of me. Before I moved to Evergreen, I truly imagined that as soon as I started sending out resumes in December, I'd have a job. I thought for sure I'd be starting my new career in January. I'd visualized the job I wanted, 'getting the call', even going to work, or better yet, working from my computer at home.

The reality has been quite different. It is now quickly closing on the end of January and I have not received one positive response to the resumes I've sent out, the jobs I've applied to, the online job boards I've joined. What I have received are daily emails from resume writing services, resume distribution services, services that promise to put my resume in the hands of recruiters, or to help me write a co…

I missed Every Day Do On Thing, I missed the single-minded purpose of that blog and felt that it has become an important log of the move and career journey that I started last year. So I am going to continue posting there about my career creation and then bring the posts over to here as well so you don't have to jump back and forth. By the way, I'm also working on a new post for this blog on....well, you'll see tomorrow.

Today I applied for two jobs with an online learning company that creates curriculum for homeschooling parents and kids. The job is curriculum writing and reviewing which is actually something I done in the past when I was teaching overseas. I would love this job. It would enable me to write, to work on educational subjects, and I would be able to do it remotely, which is one of my primary desires.

This past weekend and then again this afternoon, I spent time reading one or two of the career guidance and exploration books I recently picked up: The Purpose…