New York City - With a Dog

So - during this holiday season when the economy is really bad, my family (including our italian greyhound, Luna) traveled to New York City to experience the sights and sounds of Christmas.

What a treat! First - all those reports about New York City being dog friendly? All TRUE!!! Luna is a 15 - 17 pound italian greyhound (think big, then reality sets in as she is toy sized) and she is a spoiled - and I do mean very spoiled - dog. She is not used to walking long distances, nor is she used to being in ice and snow. Both of these experiences completely wiped her out.

We began our stay at the 30 30 Hotel in Midtown. It is located between Park and Madison Avenue about 4 blocks from the Empire State Building (ESB). Very dog friendly. The rooms are also pleasantly updated and appointed and we had a large deluxe room. Very large. Excellent prices as well. They were great with our need for a refrigerator in our room and very quick for our request for extra towels in the room. As an aside, why don't they provide enough towels for 3 people? I mean, this happens in every hotel that I've ever stayed in. They ask how many people will be staying in the rooms and then they don't provide enough towels? What's up with that? So back to our experience. We got a fridge because Luna eats homecooked meals. They need to be kept cold. This also allowed us to purchase bottled water at a small market so that we would have it if we needed it. The hotel was also centrally located near MacArthur Park which has a small dog park located in the center of the small green space. Great dog run! Everyone was sooo friendly.

Did you know that you can take your well-behaved dog into Starbuck's? Well, we did. And no one said anything. Whether this is actually allowed or not, I'm not sure. The police officer I asked about it said that small dogs are often allowed into deli's and coffee shops because technically, they are held the entire time and never touch the floor. Because they don't touch the floor they are not technically there. Same goes for the subways and trains. If you have your dog in a purse, bag, etc. the dog can be taken literally anywhere.

So - Friday night we arrived in the ice and freezing rain into Manhattan. The drive was made more difficult by the fact that my contact lenses were acting up. Some times they get blurry - or in this case, one eyeball was slightly blurry. So not only is vision difficult due to road spray, etc. from the snow, sleet and freezing rain, but then the contact lens issue. Of course, I just thought it was road spray until I had dinner Friday night. Then I began to check out what was up. I know that those who were looking at us thought for sure that I was mentally ill - I mean when someone is sitting a table and winking out of both eyes at different times - well, that person surelly has something wrong with them, right? So Friday we walked 27 blocks from our hotel in the ice, and sleet up to Rockefeller Center. You don't cab around NYC unless you really have to. So we walked (dog on leash) and saw the Lord & Taylor window. What a superb, stupendously wonderful window. I loved this window. I wasn't nearly as impressed by Macy's, Sak's or Bloomingdale's windows. But the Lord & Taylor window just took my breath away. Then we walked down to Rockefeller Center. The tree is even more impressive in real life than on TV. It had lights that sparkled. Kind of like they were strobe lights. Very cool.

The one thing about NYC that I just can't quite compute is that women - even in ice and snow - wear spike heeled shoes. I'm talking Jimmy Choos and Manolos here - how in the world they don't break their necks walking as fast as they do on the ice - I'm in awe here. Stylish, sporty, furred high heels, and they don't fall down. Not to mention the number of smokers. It was like being back in Europe. Everyone smokes. Zac was just appalled. He's 9 and everyone has taught him that smoking is soooo not cool and that it is terribly bad for you and then everyone he sees in NYC is smoking.

So - in my ducks (I don't do heels in snow and ice - and they're insulated and waterproof) we walked. By the time we got back to the hotel, we were starving so we hit - yes, California Pizza Kitchen. All the restaurants in NYC and we eat at a chain. But, it was right around the corner from our hotel and I didn't want to be too far away from our poor puppy who was just soooo cold.

Saturday, we went to MacArthur Park first. Ted and Zac stopped at a deli for coffee, breakfast sandwiches and hot chocolate for the Zman (he managed to spill every cup of hot chocolate ever made for him on himself that weekend - boys!). Luna did her thing then we walked back to the hotel. Luna burrowed under the covers refusing to come out. We determined then, after calling to make sure that the observation deck was open at the Empire State Building, that we'd do that first. Luna determined to stay in the room...so that's what she did. All day - no regrets, not a whine or a bark out of her.

After the Empire State Building (Zac was impressed with the speed of the elevators and really obsessed about his ears popping prior to going up - not as bad as he originally thought) where I experienced vertigo for the very first time looking straight down at traffic (ugh! I've determined to only go up at night here on out, or at least not look straight down ever again) and we all froze our butts off, we headed up 5th Avenue to see more of the sights. We managed to stop at Saks (potty break) and Ted and I bought winter gear while Zac pouted - he didn't want to buy anything, but he felt left out. However, the objective was to hit FAO Schwartz. It was a long walk, and it was cold, but it was great fun! When we got to FAO we had to wait in a long que. It moved quickly. Once inside, it was nirvana - until we hit the fill your own bag of candy bar. So, you pay by the pound. I am a candy freak -I went a wee bit nutso - that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. $70 (!!!!) later, we had 6 pounds (!) of candy. My husband is still miffed by this - with good reason.

We stopped by Hamburger Heaven on the way back to the hotel and ate heavenly burgers. Yummmy. Then once we got back to the hotel, the hubby and I took restful naps (not really sleeping, but resting). Z watched football. Then T & Z went to Bryant Park to go ice skating. Z is still upset at not getting his carriage ride through Central Park, but we promised we'd go back in the Spring or summer and he could do it then. Maybe, he'd even be able to go up to the ESB at night - which is something he really, really wants to do. I slept. The dog? She slept too. I think she was/is traumatized by the 50 block walk on Friday night in the cold and sleet/rain.

We left early on Sunday morning to avoid getting snowed in by the blizzard that was moving in as we were departing. The only bad thing to happen was on the way home. Turnpike food apparently doesn't agree with my stomach, so I had serious stomach issues by the time we got home. I'm better now, but our weekend in New York rocked.

For all those dog lovers out there bring your dog. They'll love it and you will too. Restaurants may be a problem, but you can eat from sidewalk vendors. Hotdogs and kebabs are yummy! And there aren't any preservatives in the kebabs since they are grilled right there.

The lights were great - the shopping was awesome and the walking was tiring, but all together it was a GREAT vacation.

Enjoy and Happy Holidays!

What A Week!

Whew! So - last week was coming to terms with being unemployed. This week was mayhem! On Monday we had new ceramic tile installed in our Bathrooms (the final thing needed to fully update without spending a bundle) and on Tuesday new Carpet throughout the carpeted areas of the home. Our house is still not back to normal and we're headed to the Big Apple tomorrow.

We're going up to see the sights before Christmas. Rockefeller Center, the Windows on 5th Avenue, and Central Park with a carriage ride. Our son also wants to go to the top of the Empire State Building - he's totally into King Kong. So - we go! We're also bringing our beloved dog, Luna. I'll let you know how that went. Our last trip to Florida this time last year (on a plane) with Luna was NOT a good thing. She was great until 45 minutes into a 2 hour flight - then she got diarrhea. If you think that a screaming child is bad - imagine recirculated air with the stench of smelly dog poop - and well, that was our trip down. The trip back was a marked improvement with the aid of Dramamine and she sat in my lap the entire flight back. We're staying at the Thirty Thirty Hotel (30 E 30th Street) so, I'll let you know how that goes.

We're driving up.

So - the last few days has been about home improvements. I've made quite a few purchases - and we're considering this our Christmas gift to ourselves - but I did purchase a few choice things for my husband...and he believes I am truly weird. I want new Kitchen appliances. A new fridge (french doors with the freezer on the bottom) and a new dishwasher and stove - all in matte black. Sigh...we'll see.

Today was truly funny - I had to take my car in for service - not normal service, no way. It was because my door locks on my passenger front seat don't always work correctly. The funny thing is they wouldn't unlock. See, most of the time, the doors worked just fine. THEN, my husband would ride in the passenger side and get locked in. The doors wouldn't open, unlock, not at all. He'd have to crawl over the center and then get out on the driver's side (he's not a short person, so this made his endeavor a wee bit trying). So, it only happened to him - not to the 8 other people whom I have driven around this past month, my husband only. So - there was something wrong with my CR-V, the actuator was bad, but it took a large man riding in the passenger seat for them to figure out what was wrong. The had to get the height and weight nearly the same and then drive for 30 minutes and then stop and attempt to unlock the car doors. BINGO! So - they got the car back to the shop, ran a computer check on the situation and that's how they figured it out.

Meanwhile, I met several very nice people. When you're not working, there's no need to rush around, so I had some very nice conversations with some very nice people and learned about some new technology. I also learned that I still want a Honda S-2000 convertible for my 40th Birthday - I know it will never happen, but it sounds fun. Plus, I'd look absolutely awesome - and hey - it's not how you feel, "it's how you look!"

Well - I've got to go pack, and prepare for tomorrow's outing to NYC for the weekend. I'll let everyone know how it goes and how "dog-friendly" it really is.

Day 5 - the end of the first week

Maybe it's just me, but I'm really unmotivated. I've got a HUGE "to do" list and have only accomplished a very few things on that list. Granted, sleep and exercise have been hugely accomplished this week (I even managed to lose 2 pounds as of this morning) but the tasks are increasing and I'm feeling unmotivated.

Here are the tasks - we have new flooring being installed next week. This is truly a wondrous thing...our carpet is builder grade and truly ugly and we're upgrading! Not to mention - "good bye linoleum in the bathroom, and hello to porcelain tile flooring - gorgeous!" However, we have to move all the little stuff off the big stuff so that the guys doing the carpet installation can do what they need to do...Hello? The quantity of little stuff is "out of this world!!!" Decluttering sucks - it is time consuming, frustrating and when it comes to paper, a major pain in my ass. Unfortunately, a large portion of the paperwork that needs to be gone through is mine. Which makes me feel guilty.

On the horizon for tomorrow? Purchase Christmas Tree, and we can't forget the floral wire (I have to make bows for the tree and the lamp post outside), then I have to go to Giant (maybe I'll go there first) and get a veggie tray for the Italian Greyhound Playgroup Holiday party - I'm bringing my camera (the party is from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.); and then I have to get back home, get the tree set up and decorated at least with lights and ribbon prior to the party, then we've got to load up the donated crates into my crate - there's a rescue operation taking place at 3:30 p.m. in upper Maryland where 14 dogs are being rescued. All this prior to 11 a.m. Then when I return - depending on what Ted has accomplished, we're going to be removing wallpaper and painting the Master Bedroom and closet and Zac's wall where he currently has camo wallpaper. Not to mention all the trimwork - ugh! So that's tomorrow. I also have to make cookie dough and Z and I will be baking cookies so that he gets what he wants in regard to ginger bread men and cookies to leave out for Santa.

This is just Saturday - Sunday is more of the same - including massive decluttering and moving stuff downstairs. The flooring folks to install the tile arrive between 8 am and 10 am on Monday morning so I'll be up and at 'em early...gotta make sure I set the timer for the coffee machine on Sunday night. Did I mention we'll be sleeping on the main floor?

Personally, I think we're all insane, but hey? It's before Christmas, we have a lot on our plate and I do really well under great quantities of pressure, right?

Meanwhile, we haven't finished decorating our house for Christmas, I've got to finish this task as well this weekend in between painting, decluttering and, of course, removing wall paper...not to forget the dog party.

So - am I insane? Yes. Yes I am. But you know what? I wouldn't have it any other way.

On another note, since the title of this blog is "Life After Fannie Mae" I still have friends there. I spoke to one of my friends and she said that people are looking over their shoulder and waiting for the axeman to show up at their desk. Not surprising. Why do you think it is so important for evaluations and 360's to be done? They're cutting yet more positions and if you don't stack up - well, then say adieu. Personally, my thoughts are they should have started with those positions first, but then that would be my bitterness showing through. But then again, that's my own problem.

As a deep southerner we're slow to forget slights against us. I can forgive, but when it's a corporation, who is there to forgive? No one...so I feel as if I've suffered a slight. It's better today than it was last week. Better even than on Monday. But yet, it has taken me one full week to feel as if I'm okay with being unemployed. Granted, I have a decent severance. I can't talk about it because I signed a legal document stating that I wouldn't. Yet, I feel as if all that I've done for the company was overlooked due to the conservator taking over and leaving me without a job. Again, nothing I can do. I'm wallowing. I realize this. I need to get over myself and quick...especially since I'll begin networking and marketing myself in January.

Speaking of January - a new year and a new life. That's my new motto. Starting tomorrow exercise becomes a part of every day. I mean it. I've been okay with exercise this week - not great - OK. 3 out of 5 ain't too shabby in my book, but it needs to be more. Especially with all the cooking and baking I've been doing. Have I mentioned that one of the great loves of childhood is licking the batter of the beaters? It's still treasured...yummmmm.

So - that's all for now - I think my eyeballs are ready for a rest - especially since Lowe's opens at 6 a.m. tomorrow so I don't have the excuse of sleeping in with everything that I have to get done tomorrow. Deadlines, I do work well with deadlines.

All the best,

Amy

2nd Day In

Today is the second day of my life beyond Fannie Mae. I was going to post on Friday night, but to be honest, I was an emotional mess. For some strange reason, I have the tendency to place my own identification in relation to my professional stature...Weird, I know.

So -yesterday? I read. I read about how to network, I read my email, I slept a lot - taking a nap. I worked out and I walked my dog. Then I made little pizzas for my family and caught up on my TiVo.

Today? I confirmed that my severance package was indeed received by the HR service center - whew! What a relief that was. I also heard from our flooring specialist that installation will be on Monday, the 15th. Well - that puts a timeline on everything that I need to do around the homefront. I desperately need to declutter our Master Bedroom and the Office so that it is easier to move the furniture around.

I also need to do some shopping - believe it or not, I love to be organized. I want my closet to look like a California Closet, but alas - this is not to be...tooo expensive. Storage is not really an issue, rather organization is vital - so I'll be doing a little shopping at Container Store to assist me in this plan. I also need to find stuff to contain my shoe collection - shoes are very important in a woman's life.

I also need to cut up the turkey breast that I purchased on Saturday so that I can make turkey tetrazzini for dinner tomorrow night - we're having steak tonight. And I need to get my rear end on my elliptical. I'm not in the mood to go outside - it's way to cold - and I'm a wimp.

So - I've become a housewife. I did this once before, but the change is that prior was due to having an infant in the house. Now, my 9 year old is at school and during the day, there's not that much to do other than clean what is not dirty...I guess I could catch up on all the dirty laundry there is. And there's a fair bit of that.

Well - I'm off to work on prioritizing my organizational skills - filing, de-wallpapering, painting and de-cluttering.

Life after Fannie isn't all that bad - it's just that this month is finding myself at loose ends. I'm not used to this - and it feels weird. I decided that I'd take December off to enjoy preparing for the holidays. So, in order to look like I've accomplished something, I'll work out then go outside and finish some of the exterior decorations and some of the interior as well.

That's what's happening with me today -

See ya,

Introduction

My name is Amy Anderson. I am a married woman (15 years as of last May) with an elementary aged child. As of tomorrow (or today, rather being that it is almost 4 a.m. on Friday, December 5th) I will no longer be a Fannie Mae employee.

On October 3rd of 2005 I began my tenure at Fannie Mae. I was, actually, quite terrified as I had never really worked for a large corporation before. I was hired as an Administrative Associate working with the Housing and Community Development (HCD) business at Fannie Mae. I was to learn a great deal from the people that I supported there. I made good friends, important connections and will always remember the passion of the mission that those that work within HCD have for the Charter of Fannie Mae.

The purpose of Fannie Mae is to provide liquidity to the markets so that banks can lend money to people who want to purchase homes. We're kind of like the Fed like that - however, it is important to understand that Fannie doesn't originate mortgages - oh no, Fannie Mae, and it's competitor Freddie Mac, operate in the secondary markets. This means that when banks lend money to consumers as a mortgage, Fannie and Freddie purchase those mortgages which allow the banks to get more cash so that they can then turn around and provide more money to those who want to buy a house.

So - I worked in Investor Relations. It was an awesome job. I mean, I got to see Fannie Mae and learn about all of the businesses from the top down. Investor Relations may have been under the auspices of Finance, but in truth it worked with the core of Senior Management. We worked with marketing the releases of new stock (usually preferred but sometimes common) with the understanding that this was to raise capital to support our business. Some folks chose to market our preferreds as "safe" but in fact, preferred stock holds all the same risks as common stock - just in a different way, but again - that would be for a different blog topic.

I loved my job - I learned so much and I will miss this so very much.

On September 6th, the government placed Fannie Mae and it's competitor and fellow GSE, Freddie Mac, under conservatorship. Our conservator, FHFA or the Federal Housing Finance Act holds all responsibilities now for the failure or success of Fannie Mae. We'll see what happens. However, when Fannie Mae went into conservatorship - our #1 stockholder became the government. This meant that Investor Relations, Equity, as it stood was extraneous. We would become no longer necessary to the businesses that are all a part of Fannie Mae.

Tomorrow/today is my last day at Fannie Mae. I can't sleep though I'm exhausted. I have an ulcer and it's driving me insane - we're out of milk. So tomorrow, I and my fellow IR employees will head out into the great unknown and learn what life is like after Fannie Mae.

Until then...