Four years ago today, I started my job at a new company in Philadelphia. I had just moved to the area from my parents' house in Queensbury and was on my own for the first time since college, living in a new place, knowing barely anyone, with no clear idea what I was going to be doing or even how to survive successfully in the real world. I was barely 25, eager to employ my skills from college but I wasn't altogether sure what those were. I knew I was smart, but I didn't know just how to apply myself. I took a chance coming here, starting this new job, venturing out into the world. I took a chance, but it turned out to be a good one.
The company, back then, was called FD kinesis. We were a small marketing firm that had been acquired by a larger parent company, but the spirit of Kinesis Marketing still held strong. The five founders, all with unique personalities and charm, all had their specialties and had hired people to manage accounts and run different facets of the business. It was interesting to me to learn everyone's style and skills. I loved the days when we would all gather for a meeting or a party in New Jersey or Philadelphia, and I'd get to mingle with my colleagues from Morristown and New York. I felt so cosmopolitan, walking down to Old City for happy hours where mussels were served. I had never even had a mussel before I set foot in Philly. My eyes were being opened up to new parts of the world.
My job came with challenges. I had work and lots of it. And instead of answering to a boss, or several layers of bosses when work was piling up, I was answering directly to clients. These were very demanding clients, many of them, who all wanted things the next day or the same day, all at once, none of them knowing about the others. At my previous job, I had learned to manage my time in chunks, going methodically, quickly and accurately through monotonous work. But now, I was trying to get a grasp on new work, learn how to do it, communicate and build relationships with dozens of clients, attend meetings, as well as turn things around quickly and accurately. It was a lot to handle. I once reached out to my coworker across the room over IM, asking "What do you do when everyone wants things from you at once?" He suggested saying no. I hadn't even considered it.
Over time, I learned to temper my feelings of stress and manage my time and the clients. I found I enjoyed balancing all the different moving parts. I got good at it. I may have gotten too good at it. Because somewhere down the line, I got bored. My boss had changed a few times since I had come to the company, first FD kinesis, then FD, now FTI Consulting. And the latest boss suggested I take a look around me at what others were doing. Look into new avenues at the company. Talk to the people around me and find something I could be interested in pursuing as well or instead as a next career move.
I looked into information architecture, HTML, social media and then...I found writing. The creative team at FTI is pretty robust, but full of mostly designers. There are two writers, one of them a managing director, who when I expressed interest - excitement, delight, ecstatic joy - welcomed me with open arms. It had been almost three and a half years since I began my journey at FTI, but I finally felt like I found the reason I'm here. I had spent the past years building my skills, my confidence and my finesse with clients and colleagues and now was my chance to shine.
It's been over six months since I was welcomed by the creative team. I still do the job I was hired to do four years ago. But I am taking steps in a new direction. I'm writing each and every day, honing my editing skills, my eye for detail and my ear my voice and tone. I feel like I've learned so much even in the short time I've been doing this. It makes me wonder what I could learn in a year. Or three years.
My time in Philadelphia and at FTI has only been a small part of my life so far, and I've got a long way to go. But what I've learned since I began here four years ago has amounted to the great things that can be achieved when you take risks and work hard. Don't ever be afraid of the unknown. It's where your future is waiting.
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Saturday, April 27, 2013
Monday, April 1, 2013
On Restructuring
With change, always comes a little pain. Even with change for the better, there are always questions and uncertainty and upsets within the system. Recently at work, we've been going through what has been called a time of restructuring. I've had many interesting conversations with people in different parts of the company to get their take on what this means, and really, from all angles, I get a resounding answer of "we don't know yet." This "yet" tacked on gives it a sense of temporary being, that we don't know what exactly the future will be, but we'll get there together, and once we're there, we'll know!
It's tough to be at a company for a long period of time and be completely content. Especially a company that has gone through as many changes as mine has. It was acquired back in 2008 when it was a small marketing firm, and has since grown and changed and evolved into the creative arm of a very large, very robust consulting company that seems to want it to do one thing, when it clearly wants to do quite another. Some people seem on board with the changes, but these people appear to be already doing the work that aligns with what the new structure needs most.
I hesitate to say which side of the fence I'm on because of a few things. I have a job. I have a secure job, serving two clients, in two different capacities. One of these is a writing job, which I'm very happy with, and my job isn't going anywhere anytime soon. I am lucky and grateful to have my job. The second thing is that I have the opportunity for growth. I don't know how or when the next bout of growth will happen, but it's happened already in the past year by leaps and bounds, and I can only see myself continuing to grow and develop here as time goes on. Lastly, I work with some of the best people I know. And I have no doubt that I will be taken care of no matter what happens.
So, let's restructure. Let's see where it takes us. To infinity and beyond. I'm ready to ride this thing out for the next year and see where we all end up.
It's tough to be at a company for a long period of time and be completely content. Especially a company that has gone through as many changes as mine has. It was acquired back in 2008 when it was a small marketing firm, and has since grown and changed and evolved into the creative arm of a very large, very robust consulting company that seems to want it to do one thing, when it clearly wants to do quite another. Some people seem on board with the changes, but these people appear to be already doing the work that aligns with what the new structure needs most.
I hesitate to say which side of the fence I'm on because of a few things. I have a job. I have a secure job, serving two clients, in two different capacities. One of these is a writing job, which I'm very happy with, and my job isn't going anywhere anytime soon. I am lucky and grateful to have my job. The second thing is that I have the opportunity for growth. I don't know how or when the next bout of growth will happen, but it's happened already in the past year by leaps and bounds, and I can only see myself continuing to grow and develop here as time goes on. Lastly, I work with some of the best people I know. And I have no doubt that I will be taken care of no matter what happens.
So, let's restructure. Let's see where it takes us. To infinity and beyond. I'm ready to ride this thing out for the next year and see where we all end up.
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Do You Worry About How Interesting You Are? Because I Do...
I was in the shower last night and realized that I'm not very interesting. Yes, I can carry on interesting conversations with people, and talk about things that are beyond my daily routine, but for the most part, the things that are on my mind are my own concerns: my money, my health and body, my relationships and my job. And outside of that, what do I have?
Well, let's see. I like to read. I like music. I like going to concerts and downloading new singers and musicians, but I don't make music anymore. I like art and finding new artists, but I'm not particularly knowledgeable about any of them, nor do I make it a point to seek out art in my day to day life. I even stopped going to sketch class on Mondays and Wednesdays. I like cooking and dining out, but I don't think I know enough about gourmet food to be considered a true "foodie". And I love wine, but I'm definitely not up to speed enough about wines to be considered an expert on that. I enjoy political discussions, but I'm not informed enough. I love traveling, but I don't make or save enough money to do it regularly.
I guess what I'm saying is that I like a lot of things, but I don't think I'm particularly great at any one thing or pursue anything with abandon enough to say that I have a passion. So that most of the time, my brain is not consumed with any deep amazing thoughts that keep me in a state of thinking and thinking, I'm mostly pondering what I should do about my credit card debt and how I shouldn't have bought those concert tickets yesterday, even though it's going to be an amazing time.
I don't know if this means I should pick something to be passionate about and pursue it, or if I'm ok leading a life without that kind of fire for say ART! Or WINE! Cause I'm an ART PERSON! OR A WINE PERSON! Also, with all of my time spent seeing friends, running errands, going to the gym and working, I don't know when I would find extra time to put into something that I'm assuming would take a lot of extra time.
My dear friend Kaela volunteers as the Executive Director now (she has risen high in the ranks) of the Boho Theater Company in Chicago and spends many hours every week meeting, planning, coordinating, attending rehearsals or auditions and anything else that needs to be done. She does this in addition to her day job AND her school work (she is getting her masters degree currently). I cannot fathom how she finds the time for everything and still has time for herself.
I was actually thinking of applying to get a masters degree myself last year, before I made the decision to pursue writing at my company. I knew it would be a lot of work, and I vowed that I would still find time for all the things I loved. But to be honest, I don't know if I could have done it and still kept up with everything I want to do. At this point in my life, I am happy supplementing my knowledge and degree with conferences, meetup groups, articles and books: things that are manageable in pieces and do not span months or years of my life.
But this brings me back to the place where I still worry that I am not interesting enough. That I am not passionate enough about any one thing to be a person with passion. Does it count to be passionately in love with one's partner? Does being in love make you interesting? I'm thinking the world of single people thinks it does not. And I think it makes people glad that you're in a relationship that makes you happy, but they don't wish to see you more because of it. They don't say "Oh Amanda was cool before, but ever since she got that boyfriend, she's been AWESOME to hang out with!"
I guess to broaden that concept a bit more, I could simply be passionate about my relationships. I think that's what it's all about anyway. That's what I could dwell on in the dark of night: how to strengthen my relationships with my friends, my family, my boyfriend, my coworkers. That's something that's important to me. And whether or not that makes me interesting, I guess will just have to be determined later. I could take all of my little interests and infuse them into my relationships in little ways thereby making them bigger by the communities of which they're a part. And that doesn't sound half bad.
Well, let's see. I like to read. I like music. I like going to concerts and downloading new singers and musicians, but I don't make music anymore. I like art and finding new artists, but I'm not particularly knowledgeable about any of them, nor do I make it a point to seek out art in my day to day life. I even stopped going to sketch class on Mondays and Wednesdays. I like cooking and dining out, but I don't think I know enough about gourmet food to be considered a true "foodie". And I love wine, but I'm definitely not up to speed enough about wines to be considered an expert on that. I enjoy political discussions, but I'm not informed enough. I love traveling, but I don't make or save enough money to do it regularly.
I guess what I'm saying is that I like a lot of things, but I don't think I'm particularly great at any one thing or pursue anything with abandon enough to say that I have a passion. So that most of the time, my brain is not consumed with any deep amazing thoughts that keep me in a state of thinking and thinking, I'm mostly pondering what I should do about my credit card debt and how I shouldn't have bought those concert tickets yesterday, even though it's going to be an amazing time.
I don't know if this means I should pick something to be passionate about and pursue it, or if I'm ok leading a life without that kind of fire for say ART! Or WINE! Cause I'm an ART PERSON! OR A WINE PERSON! Also, with all of my time spent seeing friends, running errands, going to the gym and working, I don't know when I would find extra time to put into something that I'm assuming would take a lot of extra time.
My dear friend Kaela volunteers as the Executive Director now (she has risen high in the ranks) of the Boho Theater Company in Chicago and spends many hours every week meeting, planning, coordinating, attending rehearsals or auditions and anything else that needs to be done. She does this in addition to her day job AND her school work (she is getting her masters degree currently). I cannot fathom how she finds the time for everything and still has time for herself.
I was actually thinking of applying to get a masters degree myself last year, before I made the decision to pursue writing at my company. I knew it would be a lot of work, and I vowed that I would still find time for all the things I loved. But to be honest, I don't know if I could have done it and still kept up with everything I want to do. At this point in my life, I am happy supplementing my knowledge and degree with conferences, meetup groups, articles and books: things that are manageable in pieces and do not span months or years of my life.
But this brings me back to the place where I still worry that I am not interesting enough. That I am not passionate enough about any one thing to be a person with passion. Does it count to be passionately in love with one's partner? Does being in love make you interesting? I'm thinking the world of single people thinks it does not. And I think it makes people glad that you're in a relationship that makes you happy, but they don't wish to see you more because of it. They don't say "Oh Amanda was cool before, but ever since she got that boyfriend, she's been AWESOME to hang out with!"
I guess to broaden that concept a bit more, I could simply be passionate about my relationships. I think that's what it's all about anyway. That's what I could dwell on in the dark of night: how to strengthen my relationships with my friends, my family, my boyfriend, my coworkers. That's something that's important to me. And whether or not that makes me interesting, I guess will just have to be determined later. I could take all of my little interests and infuse them into my relationships in little ways thereby making them bigger by the communities of which they're a part. And that doesn't sound half bad.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Life is kicking along...in a good way.
I'm going a little crazy today. I don't know why. I'm just having trouble focusing. I guess you can't help that sometimes. Mostly, things are going really well. I really have very few complaints about my life, even though I bought a car without thinking and am living on a crazy budget all of a sudden. It's kind of an adventure...surviving without money. I'm digging it so far, but it's only been 2 weeks. Talk to me about it in 2 months.
My main goal is to keep putting money in savings and NOT rack up crazy credit card debt by doing so. If I can get to my bonus and tax return doing these two things (and that means making it past Atlantic City, DC, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas), I will be a champion in my own eyes.
Oh yeah, and while doing that, I'm trying to lose even more weight and take on a new role at my company while simultaneously doing the job I do now. Holy wow, it seems like I'm taking on a lot. I read on facebook the other day "If it scares you, you might want to think about doing it" or some such stuff. (That's not verbatim.) I believe that's what I'm doing with the second half of this year.
It's been a pretty awesome year with Dylan and reveling in all that being in love stuff, but I guess I was finally ready for new challenges, so I'm taking on the world. On top of the financial goals, the health goals and the work goals, I also want to volunteer! And organize my house, getting rid of things I don't need anymore. I'm supposed to tackle clothing tomorrow. I think it'll make getting dressed in the morning a lot easier if I'm not sifting through a million things to get to the clothes that fit and look good. It's the borderline stuff - the stuff you can pair with other things and have it look alright - that is going to be tough to deal with. I don't want to pare my wardrobe down so much that I only have a few outfits. But at the same time, if it doesn't fit, I've got to get rid of it and get a new one! Or get something else that's even better. Either way, I've got a lot of work ahead of me.
And maybe once all that money is saved up, and my credit card is free and clear, I can go on a little shopping spree and get myself some nice new clothes that fit well and are good quality. I'm thinking good stores + sales rack = the way to go.
Not even thinking of all the things I want to get for my house. I just wish Dylan was done with school sooner so we could start our dual income life. It's going to be a lot easier to afford things like vacuum cleaners and ironing boards and Dutch ovens, when I'm not the only one paying rent and utilities. I know it won't be perfect, and I know life will be an adjustment no matter what, but I'm really looking forward to building my life with him.
And of course, it has a hell of a lot more to do with waking up next to him each day and snuggling up to him each night than it does to do with splitting expenses. It's just a nice bonus, and I think once we're both working, we can have a really good life together. I'm excited for that day to come.
I have always had a hard time coming up with a 5 year plan, but I think I'm close to finally being able to come up with one! With work, my relationship, my goals...the stars are aligning, and I feel like the road in front of me is actually clearing up a little bit and I can see where it is that I'm going. That is, instead of just going day by day, week by week, and hoping I end up somewhere I want to be. Not that that hasn't worked out well for me these past few years! Nonetheless, I'm happy to say I'm in a good place, and working on making it even better. Here I go :)
My main goal is to keep putting money in savings and NOT rack up crazy credit card debt by doing so. If I can get to my bonus and tax return doing these two things (and that means making it past Atlantic City, DC, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas), I will be a champion in my own eyes.
Oh yeah, and while doing that, I'm trying to lose even more weight and take on a new role at my company while simultaneously doing the job I do now. Holy wow, it seems like I'm taking on a lot. I read on facebook the other day "If it scares you, you might want to think about doing it" or some such stuff. (That's not verbatim.) I believe that's what I'm doing with the second half of this year.
It's been a pretty awesome year with Dylan and reveling in all that being in love stuff, but I guess I was finally ready for new challenges, so I'm taking on the world. On top of the financial goals, the health goals and the work goals, I also want to volunteer! And organize my house, getting rid of things I don't need anymore. I'm supposed to tackle clothing tomorrow. I think it'll make getting dressed in the morning a lot easier if I'm not sifting through a million things to get to the clothes that fit and look good. It's the borderline stuff - the stuff you can pair with other things and have it look alright - that is going to be tough to deal with. I don't want to pare my wardrobe down so much that I only have a few outfits. But at the same time, if it doesn't fit, I've got to get rid of it and get a new one! Or get something else that's even better. Either way, I've got a lot of work ahead of me.
And maybe once all that money is saved up, and my credit card is free and clear, I can go on a little shopping spree and get myself some nice new clothes that fit well and are good quality. I'm thinking good stores + sales rack = the way to go.
Not even thinking of all the things I want to get for my house. I just wish Dylan was done with school sooner so we could start our dual income life. It's going to be a lot easier to afford things like vacuum cleaners and ironing boards and Dutch ovens, when I'm not the only one paying rent and utilities. I know it won't be perfect, and I know life will be an adjustment no matter what, but I'm really looking forward to building my life with him.
And of course, it has a hell of a lot more to do with waking up next to him each day and snuggling up to him each night than it does to do with splitting expenses. It's just a nice bonus, and I think once we're both working, we can have a really good life together. I'm excited for that day to come.
I have always had a hard time coming up with a 5 year plan, but I think I'm close to finally being able to come up with one! With work, my relationship, my goals...the stars are aligning, and I feel like the road in front of me is actually clearing up a little bit and I can see where it is that I'm going. That is, instead of just going day by day, week by week, and hoping I end up somewhere I want to be. Not that that hasn't worked out well for me these past few years! Nonetheless, I'm happy to say I'm in a good place, and working on making it even better. Here I go :)
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Is it August already?
It's been a long time since I've written, and I feel like I miss writing so much. I really want to get doing this again every day, but it's so hard when you're not in the rhythm to make it a priority. I'll try for September's challenge I suppose. Though, we're going to the shore Labor Day weekend, so I don't know how that will go (if we'll have wifi or not).
Life is going quite well. Things with Dylan are great, I've been having fun with friends and coworkers, I'm actually genuinely excited to try new things at work, and I'm about to go see my family for the third time this summer. I've decided to stay in my place for another year or so, even though Dylan got into the University of Pennsylvania. Both cats have been to the vet and are healthy. And I've been great with going to the gym and have even dipped below 200 pounds, though with eating a half a pizza last night, we'll see how I fare on the scale today!
So all these good things ought to make me the happiest girl in the world, right? Well, for the most part I am. But I still feel really anxious some days (usually Mondays), and I had a day on Saturday where all I wanted to do was sleep and sleep and sleep some more. I didn't want to watch shows or do things, I just wanted to nap. Dylan gave me kind of a hard time about it, and I don't know if it was from exhaustion or from a minor bought of depression, but it was hard for me to snap out of it. This upcoming weekend, going home for the summer picnic, is going to be more busy and crazy, so I won't have time to sleep the day away, but when we come back, I want to make an effort to get up by 9AM on the weekend and maybe do some light exercise to get my body going. Maybe write! Wink wink nudge nudge. I'd love to get into more of a routine on the weekend and maybe get stuff accomplished, but it's hard when Dylan's there and there's not much for him to do at my house except watch TV.
Anyhow, other than my anxious days and the occasional super sleepy day, life has been good. As I said, Dylan got into Penn and I couldn't be happier for him. He's already invested in lots of Penn gear - 2 sweatshirts, a polo and a cute sporty T-shirt for me! We decided to put off moving in together for the time being, since he doesn't have a job aside from tutoring and it could put a strain on us for him not to have an income and us having all sorts of expenses. I think it's smart, but there's still part of me that's yearning to come home from work each night and get to see him. Even if we don't hang out all night, just to be able to give him a kiss or make him dinner would be lovely. But all good things come in time. So I'm sure whenever it does happen, it'll be worth the wait. And by then, we'll be even more sure that it's right.
Work has been pretty exciting, as I said. I've been spending lots of time after work with other coworkers as well as investigating new avenues of work itself. I rented a car and took a trip up to Morristown to meet with our resident social media expert on Monday. She told me a lot about what it is she does - profiling and auditing clients social media presence, sometimes in a crisis, to find out what people are saying (good and bad) and then making recommendations based upon this to help them engage with their customers or investors, whoever their audience might be. It's all incredibly interesting to me, and it's in a space I feel very comfortable in, since I've been involved in social media for the better part of 10 years on some level. I'm going to have one other chat today, with someone else in a different department. But I'm actually getting excited about new opportunities to learn and grow and work with different people!
I'm about to dive into my last full work day before my trip, and there's a lot to do, but I'm glad I could take a few minutes to write. I've owed it to myself, at the very least :)
Life is going quite well. Things with Dylan are great, I've been having fun with friends and coworkers, I'm actually genuinely excited to try new things at work, and I'm about to go see my family for the third time this summer. I've decided to stay in my place for another year or so, even though Dylan got into the University of Pennsylvania. Both cats have been to the vet and are healthy. And I've been great with going to the gym and have even dipped below 200 pounds, though with eating a half a pizza last night, we'll see how I fare on the scale today!
So all these good things ought to make me the happiest girl in the world, right? Well, for the most part I am. But I still feel really anxious some days (usually Mondays), and I had a day on Saturday where all I wanted to do was sleep and sleep and sleep some more. I didn't want to watch shows or do things, I just wanted to nap. Dylan gave me kind of a hard time about it, and I don't know if it was from exhaustion or from a minor bought of depression, but it was hard for me to snap out of it. This upcoming weekend, going home for the summer picnic, is going to be more busy and crazy, so I won't have time to sleep the day away, but when we come back, I want to make an effort to get up by 9AM on the weekend and maybe do some light exercise to get my body going. Maybe write! Wink wink nudge nudge. I'd love to get into more of a routine on the weekend and maybe get stuff accomplished, but it's hard when Dylan's there and there's not much for him to do at my house except watch TV.
Anyhow, other than my anxious days and the occasional super sleepy day, life has been good. As I said, Dylan got into Penn and I couldn't be happier for him. He's already invested in lots of Penn gear - 2 sweatshirts, a polo and a cute sporty T-shirt for me! We decided to put off moving in together for the time being, since he doesn't have a job aside from tutoring and it could put a strain on us for him not to have an income and us having all sorts of expenses. I think it's smart, but there's still part of me that's yearning to come home from work each night and get to see him. Even if we don't hang out all night, just to be able to give him a kiss or make him dinner would be lovely. But all good things come in time. So I'm sure whenever it does happen, it'll be worth the wait. And by then, we'll be even more sure that it's right.
Work has been pretty exciting, as I said. I've been spending lots of time after work with other coworkers as well as investigating new avenues of work itself. I rented a car and took a trip up to Morristown to meet with our resident social media expert on Monday. She told me a lot about what it is she does - profiling and auditing clients social media presence, sometimes in a crisis, to find out what people are saying (good and bad) and then making recommendations based upon this to help them engage with their customers or investors, whoever their audience might be. It's all incredibly interesting to me, and it's in a space I feel very comfortable in, since I've been involved in social media for the better part of 10 years on some level. I'm going to have one other chat today, with someone else in a different department. But I'm actually getting excited about new opportunities to learn and grow and work with different people!
I'm about to dive into my last full work day before my trip, and there's a lot to do, but I'm glad I could take a few minutes to write. I've owed it to myself, at the very least :)
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Attitude is everything. And also money.
Side note, preface-thingy: yesterday, I felt awful. I wanted to move away and start a new life. I felt like a failure in every way. I couldn't even watch TV without my brain telling me all the things that were wrong with my life. And then this is today:
OMG. Today has kicked yesterday's ASS. I don't know what my problem was yesterday. Scratch that. I do know what it was. I was second guessing myself. I was taking things personally, and I was letting negative thoughts overtake my brain. Today, I have taken charge of the world and it is MINE! I've talked, hung out, gone on walks, brought my own lunch, and am about ready to hit the gym for a good old fashioned RUN. I am so psyched for life today, which is the exact opposite of how I felt yesterday. Today, nothing can stop me. I think it's all about attitude. The thing I've noticed about the two really good days that I've had this week has been that I've come in with a plan. Just a simple plan to make an effort to talk to the people around me. Obviously things escalated from the plan, and have gone well from there, but I think the attitude of having a plan makes things worlds better.
Maybe I should start every day like that. I don't know if I would absolutely need that, but I do need to remind myself that I'm worthy and smart and funny sometimes. Dylan does a good job of reminding me too. I can't believe how upset I was last night, and how things seem so much better and brighter today. I guess I am no longer the bright, shiny, positive person I am EVERY day. But I certainly am today.
One of the things that is on my mind today is saving money. If I can start bringing in salads or wraps from Trader Joe's instead of buying my lunch out everyday, I think I can save myself at least $20 per week. Maybe $30. And with ceasing the organic produce delivery for the time being, I'm eating less fruit, but I am able to snack on baby carrots and cherry tomatoes for only about $3 a week from Sue's. And buying salad stuff for home only costs another $8-$10 a week which saves me $15. That's $45 in my pocket right there, just from eating smarter! And with Dylan and I going out less (or him getting paid more and paying for us more!), I think I can work to pay down my credit card this summer and save the money I need for our vacation to Atlantic City this fall.
I'm hoping our other trips this summer can be low-budget. Aside from gas and tolls, we'll be doing a lot of meals with family, and like Kaela's mom's party, catered by others! I will make sure to pack lots of yummy road snacks from Trader Joe's and the odd order of fries from a rest stop won't kill our budget. The more I figure out where my money is going, the more I feel like I could really run a household and a family someday. It's a very empowering feeling. And to someday have BOTH of our incomes to use and plan with- well, gosh, that will be just heaven on earth. I'm sure we won't ever have more money than we know what to do with, or fatty fat fat savings and trusts for our children, but I have a feeling we'll be doing alright for ourselves pretty soon down the line.
And gosh, I know Dylan sleeping over last night was nice. He really makes me happy. I can't wait to spend my life making him happy too. That's it. My sappy romantic blurt is over.
Back to money! I joined Pear a few months back, a really cool budgeting website. I've been supremely diligent about inputting all of my expenses, but I haven't actually gone through and revised my budget or analyzed my spending. I think I might need some help with that. Maybe my mom or Dylan would be able to take a look and advise me. I think I'll be able to tell where I'm going over in spending (TRAVEL! CLOTHING!) but I'm not sure really what to do about that except to adjust my budget to account for the things I need to spend. To be honest, I don't buy THAT many clothes. And I think I only budgeted $500 for each for the year, and that doesn't seem like that much when you break it down by month.
Something I always want to be able to do is go out to dinner. It doesn't have to be at fancy places, but it is my biggest indulgence, and I'd gladly give up take out and restaurant lunches to be able to go out to dinner every now and then. I think it's time to set some financial goals! Stand by. (But not really, because it won't be for a few days!)
OMG. Today has kicked yesterday's ASS. I don't know what my problem was yesterday. Scratch that. I do know what it was. I was second guessing myself. I was taking things personally, and I was letting negative thoughts overtake my brain. Today, I have taken charge of the world and it is MINE! I've talked, hung out, gone on walks, brought my own lunch, and am about ready to hit the gym for a good old fashioned RUN. I am so psyched for life today, which is the exact opposite of how I felt yesterday. Today, nothing can stop me. I think it's all about attitude. The thing I've noticed about the two really good days that I've had this week has been that I've come in with a plan. Just a simple plan to make an effort to talk to the people around me. Obviously things escalated from the plan, and have gone well from there, but I think the attitude of having a plan makes things worlds better.
Maybe I should start every day like that. I don't know if I would absolutely need that, but I do need to remind myself that I'm worthy and smart and funny sometimes. Dylan does a good job of reminding me too. I can't believe how upset I was last night, and how things seem so much better and brighter today. I guess I am no longer the bright, shiny, positive person I am EVERY day. But I certainly am today.
One of the things that is on my mind today is saving money. If I can start bringing in salads or wraps from Trader Joe's instead of buying my lunch out everyday, I think I can save myself at least $20 per week. Maybe $30. And with ceasing the organic produce delivery for the time being, I'm eating less fruit, but I am able to snack on baby carrots and cherry tomatoes for only about $3 a week from Sue's. And buying salad stuff for home only costs another $8-$10 a week which saves me $15. That's $45 in my pocket right there, just from eating smarter! And with Dylan and I going out less (or him getting paid more and paying for us more!), I think I can work to pay down my credit card this summer and save the money I need for our vacation to Atlantic City this fall.
I'm hoping our other trips this summer can be low-budget. Aside from gas and tolls, we'll be doing a lot of meals with family, and like Kaela's mom's party, catered by others! I will make sure to pack lots of yummy road snacks from Trader Joe's and the odd order of fries from a rest stop won't kill our budget. The more I figure out where my money is going, the more I feel like I could really run a household and a family someday. It's a very empowering feeling. And to someday have BOTH of our incomes to use and plan with- well, gosh, that will be just heaven on earth. I'm sure we won't ever have more money than we know what to do with, or fatty fat fat savings and trusts for our children, but I have a feeling we'll be doing alright for ourselves pretty soon down the line.
And gosh, I know Dylan sleeping over last night was nice. He really makes me happy. I can't wait to spend my life making him happy too. That's it. My sappy romantic blurt is over.
Back to money! I joined Pear a few months back, a really cool budgeting website. I've been supremely diligent about inputting all of my expenses, but I haven't actually gone through and revised my budget or analyzed my spending. I think I might need some help with that. Maybe my mom or Dylan would be able to take a look and advise me. I think I'll be able to tell where I'm going over in spending (TRAVEL! CLOTHING!) but I'm not sure really what to do about that except to adjust my budget to account for the things I need to spend. To be honest, I don't buy THAT many clothes. And I think I only budgeted $500 for each for the year, and that doesn't seem like that much when you break it down by month.
Something I always want to be able to do is go out to dinner. It doesn't have to be at fancy places, but it is my biggest indulgence, and I'd gladly give up take out and restaurant lunches to be able to go out to dinner every now and then. I think it's time to set some financial goals! Stand by. (But not really, because it won't be for a few days!)
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Birthday Ramblins Part Deux
I'm on a streak! And it's Saturday! And I'm writing! And it's 7:33 in the morning, and I can't sleep anymore, because I'm excited for this day! And Dylan's sleeping next to me, and I think my typing, no matter how quiet I try to make it, is always too loud! People at work mock me by doing this crazy typing gesture- hands coming down on the keyboard from 2 feet in the air, very exaggerated and cartoon-esque. I love it, but it's also kind of embarrassing.
I had a dream last night that I met Clare Danes and we hung out and talked a bunch, she told me she's from Philly and that she actually LIVES here, and we had so much in common, and she was beautiful and cool, and she was trying to hint that she was dating my boss Rob. Weird twist, but I'll take it.
We had a really fun night last night at Distrito. Jess and David arrived on time, the Cubans were 25 and 45 minutes late (Marie and Janire/Liza, respectively). I drank tasty margaritas, and sampled some of Liza's tequila flight, Dylan got Coronas, Jess got some kind of fancy drink with a cherry in it- with a cherry stem she TIED IN HER MOUTH. I've "done that" before...but it was all a lie! I'd slip it out of my mouth and tie it under the table. I'm such a party trick cheater! I shouldn't be allowed to play party tricks. No more fake tricks for me. ANYHOW, last night was a lot of fun. I actually got PRESENTS from my friends (NEW DEVELOPMENT IN MY GROWN UP LIFE), and I got a candle in my Frios (flan, dulce de leche, coconut cake & mango - SO AMAZING).
The food was incredible. We ordered ceviche and chips w/ guacamole to start, and then Dylan ordered us a bunch of food: out of this world kobe beef tacos with the most delicate shoestring potatoes and truffle oil, a chicken tortilla soup, some kind of flatbread pizza with shortribs and radish on it, and this amazing fried plantain with cheese on it. Nothing I ate was short of awesome. I'm not holding out such high hopes for the Mexican today, but we certainly will have a smaller bill this afternoon. At least we better! And the $10 margaritas are going to be 22 oz. this time, so maybe I will only need 2 to get me feeling feisty.
I don't know what I'm going to do for the next hour and a half. I'm also wondering if I'm going to get hungry, and maybe I should eat a little something, something. Maybe a banana. I don't want to eat a true meal, though it would be tempting to cook up some onion and spinach omelets with that yummy cheese I have.
I can't believe so many people are meeting us for brunch today. I know not everyone's coming because it's my birthday, but this is all part of my birthday season and that makes it exciting. I hope we get to sit next to Alex and Michael, because they're really my bestestes of the group. A seat next to Larry Latore might be nothing to sneer at as well.
Something that bothered me at work the other day was in our status meeting, I brought up wanting to clear out the vendor list, which everyone was on board for, but I mentioned wanting to reach out to the contact whose address we had for the email order notifications. Nancy was like, "NO WAY," and proceeded to go into why doing that was opening a can of worms and not our responsibility. I think all aspects of site maintenance are our responsibility, and making sure that we have the right contact information for our vendors is important! I couldn't believe she was fighting me so much on this issue, and I even got a "we can talk about it later." Luckily, we ended up out for a drink that night, so I think all was saved.
Dylan's snoring. It's now 7:50 (not going to break my record typing time today!) I don't know if I want to spoon him, or get up and go to the kitchen to weigh myself and decide if I want breakfast. Is it weird that I base whether or not I eat on my weight on that faulty ass scale? I maybe need to take my scale out of the damn kitchen. I just want to be rocking for my weigh in next week!
Give me strength!
I had a dream last night that I met Clare Danes and we hung out and talked a bunch, she told me she's from Philly and that she actually LIVES here, and we had so much in common, and she was beautiful and cool, and she was trying to hint that she was dating my boss Rob. Weird twist, but I'll take it.
We had a really fun night last night at Distrito. Jess and David arrived on time, the Cubans were 25 and 45 minutes late (Marie and Janire/Liza, respectively). I drank tasty margaritas, and sampled some of Liza's tequila flight, Dylan got Coronas, Jess got some kind of fancy drink with a cherry in it- with a cherry stem she TIED IN HER MOUTH. I've "done that" before...but it was all a lie! I'd slip it out of my mouth and tie it under the table. I'm such a party trick cheater! I shouldn't be allowed to play party tricks. No more fake tricks for me. ANYHOW, last night was a lot of fun. I actually got PRESENTS from my friends (NEW DEVELOPMENT IN MY GROWN UP LIFE), and I got a candle in my Frios (flan, dulce de leche, coconut cake & mango - SO AMAZING).
The food was incredible. We ordered ceviche and chips w/ guacamole to start, and then Dylan ordered us a bunch of food: out of this world kobe beef tacos with the most delicate shoestring potatoes and truffle oil, a chicken tortilla soup, some kind of flatbread pizza with shortribs and radish on it, and this amazing fried plantain with cheese on it. Nothing I ate was short of awesome. I'm not holding out such high hopes for the Mexican today, but we certainly will have a smaller bill this afternoon. At least we better! And the $10 margaritas are going to be 22 oz. this time, so maybe I will only need 2 to get me feeling feisty.
I don't know what I'm going to do for the next hour and a half. I'm also wondering if I'm going to get hungry, and maybe I should eat a little something, something. Maybe a banana. I don't want to eat a true meal, though it would be tempting to cook up some onion and spinach omelets with that yummy cheese I have.
I can't believe so many people are meeting us for brunch today. I know not everyone's coming because it's my birthday, but this is all part of my birthday season and that makes it exciting. I hope we get to sit next to Alex and Michael, because they're really my bestestes of the group. A seat next to Larry Latore might be nothing to sneer at as well.
Something that bothered me at work the other day was in our status meeting, I brought up wanting to clear out the vendor list, which everyone was on board for, but I mentioned wanting to reach out to the contact whose address we had for the email order notifications. Nancy was like, "NO WAY," and proceeded to go into why doing that was opening a can of worms and not our responsibility. I think all aspects of site maintenance are our responsibility, and making sure that we have the right contact information for our vendors is important! I couldn't believe she was fighting me so much on this issue, and I even got a "we can talk about it later." Luckily, we ended up out for a drink that night, so I think all was saved.
Dylan's snoring. It's now 7:50 (not going to break my record typing time today!) I don't know if I want to spoon him, or get up and go to the kitchen to weigh myself and decide if I want breakfast. Is it weird that I base whether or not I eat on my weight on that faulty ass scale? I maybe need to take my scale out of the damn kitchen. I just want to be rocking for my weigh in next week!
Give me strength!
Monday, February 8, 2010
How sick is too sick?
I have a cold. It's the pestering coughing and sniffly kind that you see cure commercials for all winter long. I've actually purchased several of these OTC remedies in the past day. So far...not cured. Sorry, Mucinex and Zicam.
My question posed today is this- as I sit in the office, slowly accomplishing things and coughing little bits of myself into the air- When is sick too sick for the office? And when does coming in despite all odds triumph? I have a double standard in my head, I believe, from many days stayed home from school in my younger days. You should stay home and rest if you are sick. But if you don't come in (to school, to work, etc.) you are weak. Weak and lame and unlikely a child of a school teacher or nurse. I got it in my head that staying home means that yes, you're sick, but you're also just plain lazy. Unless you are at deathbed status (which, thankfully, I'm pretty far from), you should truck it on in. And it's this quest to be tough and to ride it out that brought me onto the train and into work this morning.
I got to the train just fine today. But as I sat, riding into Center City, the quiet desperate coughing began. The kind where you try not to cough until your throat feels like there are spikes being shoved in from all angles. And then...the cough arrives. Looking around with just my eyes, I was taking stock almost immediately of who seemed germophobic, who was recoiling from my very existence and who seemed not to care. It was then that, despite the Halls train ads beckoning me to "Stay strong," I began to feel guilty for exposing the public and my coworkers to whatever it is that has decided to inhabit my system as of this past weekend. Guilty, but of course, still very strong.
Arriving at the office, I took on the start of the day with gusto. I made coffee, I made conversation, I wrote some very important emails. And then, the long, slow fade begun. I stepped out around 10 to acquire the supposed miracle cure for my cough (aforementioned Zicam), but am still, as of 1:25, on the "quite awful" side of bad-sounding.
I guess I just think there should be guidelines somewhere. Guidelines that we can all adhere to. Because I know there is part of me that, if I have a meeting, will want to come in at all costs. And another part of me that will know that if I look enough like crap, I will not be taken seriously and should just pack it all in. Is it a fever? Visible sickness? Audible sickness? Where is the line drawn between sick and pushing through and just rampant germ exposure to the world?
I need answers. But for now, I just need to stop this ridiculous coughing.
My question posed today is this- as I sit in the office, slowly accomplishing things and coughing little bits of myself into the air- When is sick too sick for the office? And when does coming in despite all odds triumph? I have a double standard in my head, I believe, from many days stayed home from school in my younger days. You should stay home and rest if you are sick. But if you don't come in (to school, to work, etc.) you are weak. Weak and lame and unlikely a child of a school teacher or nurse. I got it in my head that staying home means that yes, you're sick, but you're also just plain lazy. Unless you are at deathbed status (which, thankfully, I'm pretty far from), you should truck it on in. And it's this quest to be tough and to ride it out that brought me onto the train and into work this morning.
I got to the train just fine today. But as I sat, riding into Center City, the quiet desperate coughing began. The kind where you try not to cough until your throat feels like there are spikes being shoved in from all angles. And then...the cough arrives. Looking around with just my eyes, I was taking stock almost immediately of who seemed germophobic, who was recoiling from my very existence and who seemed not to care. It was then that, despite the Halls train ads beckoning me to "Stay strong," I began to feel guilty for exposing the public and my coworkers to whatever it is that has decided to inhabit my system as of this past weekend. Guilty, but of course, still very strong.
Arriving at the office, I took on the start of the day with gusto. I made coffee, I made conversation, I wrote some very important emails. And then, the long, slow fade begun. I stepped out around 10 to acquire the supposed miracle cure for my cough (aforementioned Zicam), but am still, as of 1:25, on the "quite awful" side of bad-sounding.
I guess I just think there should be guidelines somewhere. Guidelines that we can all adhere to. Because I know there is part of me that, if I have a meeting, will want to come in at all costs. And another part of me that will know that if I look enough like crap, I will not be taken seriously and should just pack it all in. Is it a fever? Visible sickness? Audible sickness? Where is the line drawn between sick and pushing through and just rampant germ exposure to the world?
I need answers. But for now, I just need to stop this ridiculous coughing.
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