putting on my big girl pants

Lately I've been spending a lot of time doing what my mom likes to call "putting on my big girl pants," meaning... doing grown up/professional/career advancing/real world things. The semester has been hectic making plans for my last year in college (I finish in December - woo hoo!). Here's the plan:

This summer:
-- World Lit (online)... yeah, I still haven't taken it.
-- CHINA!!!! study abroad for 6 credits

Fall semester:
-- My last two undergrad classes!!
-- Internship for 6 credits

Then, hello diploma!

I just went to a second career fair last week; this one was for non-profit versus the business career fair disaster I went to a month ago. The non-profit career fair was such a different experience; it felt right, like it's what I'm destined to do. I spoke to 4 organizations that I am interested in (as well as some others) and am really positive about the leads I made with all of them. I was already asked to come in for an interview with one of them!! I submitted my application to another and have plans to complete the application for one tomorrow and email/follow up with the last one. I still want to find a few more to apply for, so if anyone knows a non-profit looking for interns, let me know!

I've been getting more and more involved with SIFE lately as well. It's a great organization - wonderful people, excellent experience, great cause(s), and also a pretty amazing resume builder. We had Regionals this past Monday in Atlanta. After a late Sunday night at the bar in the fancy hotel, we put our business suits on and handed out resumes to tons of huge companies. At the luncheon Monday, we sat at tables of about 10 people - I sat with 6 SIFE students from schools all over and 3 corporate big-wigs. One was an Area Director for Frito Lay, one was the HR Director of Rite Aid, and the third was the CEO of Vanity Fair (a lingerie line). I'm not particularly interested in working for any of those companies, but it was a great experience to talk to people in those positions in such a small (as close as you're gonna get to one-on-one) setting. The experiences and learning opportunities I've had with SIFE have been really amazing. P.S. Our team also won Regionals!! So we're going to Philly in May for Nationals!!

All of this "being a big girl" stuff is tiring! I'm ready for the weekend and having some free time for once...

A Henry Ford City

My hometown, Richmond Hill, GA, is home to the Ford Plantation. It was once a vacation home to Henry Ford; now it's a historic landmark with a lot of development around it (it's basically a ritzy neighborhood/resort now - they call it a "sporting community"). Henry Ford turned the backwoods, nothing area (formerly known as Ways Station) into a thriving community. He constructed several public buildings, including a chapel (still standing today) and a school. His farms brought jobs and tons of money to the area. He later renamed the town Richmond Hill. His legacy still thrives in the town today; they constructed a life size statue of him in front of city hall and several developments throughout town are named after him.

Even after living in Richmond Hill for almost my entire life, I never really thought twice about Henry Ford and the fact that everything was named after him. I knew he was the "father of the assembly line" and he made cars... but not much else. But apparently there has been some drama over the past few months back home about the city signs put up in the past year or so that say "Richmond Hill; a Henry Ford City" as you enter town.
A resident, Dick Kent, (who has always been the center on some controversy for as long as I can remember) has been a resident of Richmond Hill for many years. He is a Jewish ex-school board chair and retired military colonel that claims he takes offense to the city endorsing Henry Ford. It's been all over the news lately and has sparked a curiosity in me to read and learn more about him.

Any opinions out there on Henry Ford? Is he an "anti-Semitic, anti-labor, pro-Nazi bigot" or simply a man that helped a small, nothing town flourish into existence?

happy st. pat's!!

Today is St. Patrick's Day, and it's the first one I've not been home in Savannah for - ever. I have to miss the parade this morning for the first time in 7 years. People up here ("up here" being Kennesaw/Atlanta) don't really understand why that's such a big deal to me. I remember my freshman year talking about going home for St. Patrick's Day and being so excited about it and asking everyone what they were doing for the big day - and people would ask me, "When is St. Patrick's Day again?"!! I couldn't believe that no one else understood my excitement!

Quoted from Wikipedia: Savannah, GA, boasts the unofficial largest attendance with 750,000 in 2006. Unlike other cities, the parade in Savannah takes place on the actual day of Saint Patrick's Day, even if that day is during the work week. ... Since the parade travels through Savannah's Historic Park District, one tradition that has developed has been the official "dyeing of the fountains" which happens several days before the parade. It has also become tradition for women spectators to kiss the Armed Forces Units and other military organization's male members. Savannah does not have an open container law so there is a proliferation of alcohol on River Street, Bay Street and in City Market.

The whole city, as well as the entire surrounding area, shuts down for the parade. Schools are canceled. People don't go to work. Everyone is at the parade (or at home watching it on TV). It's one of my favorite things about being from Savannah, being able to participate in such a fun, exciting tradition.

Here are some memories and pictures from some past St. Patrick's Day parades:

That's Kristina and I in 2006 with our red lipstick, getting ready to kiss the military and other service men that were marching in the parade. And then that's me kissing a NY Firefighter from one of the units that responded to 911.

This is a picture of the green dye they spray into the river. Yes, they actually do dye the river green - it's not a joke! :) And that's a huge leprechaun in the 2006 parade.

Below are some group shots of Parade Day 2007. I believe this was this year that we were talking to some drunk NYPD guys in City Market and one of them was asking us what we were doing that night, blah blah. We said we were going to a party, and one guy replied, "Well the party's in my PANTS!" And the guy with him, with a straight face, not kidding, said "No, man. The party is in my cheeseburger." Aaand we walked away... lol.












Here's a picture of River Street at just 3pm that day - can you imagine what it looked like that night??




Below is a crazy old drunk man from 2008 that stopped in front of us and blew us kisses for a good 3 minutes before moving on... pretty typical. Keep in mind this picture was taken probably around 11:30am and everyone is already so drunk. But I guess that's to be expected when you start drinking at 8am...

And this is me and my 3 best friends - Annie, Claire, and Kristina - on Parade Day 2008. That's one of my favorite things about the parade, seeing all of my friends from home. We have this one block that we all gather on with our parents. Some of us get there reallly early in the morning, like 6am, to get a spot for us and set up chairs. Drinking begins around 8am, the parade is from 10-12ish, depending on where you are sitting along the route. Then we all start walking towards City Market and Bay and River Street for live music, dancing, drunks, and more drinking. We're all really bummed we couldn't go this year.

Aaaand... my all time favorite parade picture is this one. This is me circa 1989. That's my Uncle Phil rockin' a thick mustache and drinking some green beer from a green mug. I obviously couldn't handle all of the excitement and felt it was a great time to take a nap... in the dirt. Haha. Below, I guess my dad clued in and thought it might be better for him to hold me than leave me in the dirt... Or who knows, maybe that was taken first then he laid me in the dirt..??


Needless to say, anyone that has never been to Savannah to celebrate St. Patrick's Day is missing out! Book your hotel now for 2010 - they fill up fast!

The parade starts in 25 minutes...

Click here to see some news coverage of the day's festivities.

three wishes

A friend blogged about this recently and asked for wishes from others. Here are mine:

I wish hate would be eliminated from the world. I understand not everyone is going to get along with everyone (though that would be great). We just weren't made that way. People have different opinions and likes and attitudes. But the feeling of hate towards another is unacceptable. Differences should be celebrated and cherished. How boring would it be if we were all the same? I wish people would take the time to learn about the people they hate and try to understand them rather than judge them. Even if you still completely disagree with someone's choices or beliefs, respect them and yourself enough to accept it and move on. Patience and open-mindedness are keys to accepting others. They are definitely two things I continue to work on in my life daily.

Here are a few quotes on hate... just some food for thought:
"Hate is too great a burden to bear. It injures the hater more than it injures the hated." - Coretta Scott King

"Hatred is the coward's revenge for being intimidated." - George Bernard Shaw

My second wish would be for a happier next 10 years for my family. The amount of drama and hardship my family has gone through the past 4 years was enough for a lifetime. I've been blessed that I have not had any big catastrophe in my life, but watching literally everyone else in my family hurt for the past few years has been heart breaking. For my sister, I wish a speedy and peaceful end to this divorce 2 years in the making. I wish for my nieces to be safe and protected and for others involved to understand that need. For my brother, I wish a lifetime with no more relapse and a bright future with his latest big decision. For my nephew, whom I may never meet, I wish a life full of love and happiness, regardless of who it ends up being with. For my mom, I wish continued strength and health and for her career to turn back around.

My third wish... man, I really don't know. I think I would use my third wish to re-wish my first two to really come true. Can you do that? Either way, I think that's all I could ask for is those two things to happen. Oh, and maybe a guaranteed job after I graduate... lol.

baby girl is 5!!

Allena is 5!! Well, she will be in a few days... We celebrated with friends and family today at Monkey Joe's. It was a ton of fun but very overwhelming - tons of kids everywhere! Allena had her girl friends from daycare there, as well as all of Joy's friends' kids. We played for a few hours before we had cake and ice cream. When we sang Happy Birthday to Allena, she covered her mouth and plugged her nose... no one really understood why.. haha! Here are some pictures from the festivities:

That's the girls coming down a huge slide in their matching princess/ballerina outfits.
All of the other parents at Monkey Joe's commented on how adorable they were. :)

The birthday girl couldn't leave her party without sticking her hand into her huge piece of cake! Haha Gotta love kids :)

Mikayla and I outside waiting to leave. I can't believe how big they are getting!!

photo #14

A friend of mine recently blogged about a site he found with writing prompts. I checked it out and found a few that I might want to write about, this being the first one. It's #2 on the website. It says to dig through a photo album and write about photo #14 - you can count however you like, but choose the 14th one you come to and write about the feelings the photo makes you think about. So, here goes...

I love old photos, especially my baby pictures. So, that's where I went to get the picture. #14 just happened to be this one:That's me and my older brother, Scott, on my neighbor's horse. The lady on the left is Mrs. Gravley, my best friend from childhood's mom - the friend's name was Heather. They had two horses that they kept at a stable in town. One day they brought one to the house... I can't remember why. But this picture was taken in my driveway... now that I think about it, it was probably an odd site to see for anyone driving by at the time.

I was totally into it at the time, but I honestly can't stand horses today. They scare me to no end. They are just very large, powerful creatures. I guess the fear could be contributed to the following incidents: My uncle lived on a ranch and had a lot of horses. One day, he was guiding one out of a trailer and the horse's foot slipped off the ramp and he fell on my uncle, shattering his leg in 4 places. The next incident was at the stable with Heather. I'm not sure how old I was, maybe 8ish?, and they let me ride a pony. Well, the pony apparently wasn't in the mood and bucked me off, and as it jumped around while I was still on the ground it came a tad bit too close to stomping on my face. It seems silly, but I vividly remember that day and being so scared. It wasn't until after I graduated high school that I ever got on a horse again. My best friend, Kristina, and I went to St. Maarten as a graduation present from our parents (our moms went with us). To say Kristina loves horses is an understatement. So when she saw a flier in St. Maarten for beach side horseback riding, she wouldn't stop talking about it and begging that we do it. Being a good friend and all, I finally agreed to go with her on the last day we were there. Big mistake. It was rainy that morning, but they still let us go. It was me, Kristina, her little sister, and two guides. They gave me the biggest horse I have ever seen in my life and insisted that he was the nicest one and the easiest to control (I beg to differ). We went up steep mountains, all in the woods. You couldn't see 10 feet in front of you. It was really foggy with the rain. The ground was muddy and the horses kept slipping. And I was crying the whole time. No joke. Then we finally get down to the beach and we literally went into the ocean on the horses! I must admit, that part was pretty cool... I have pictures of it somewhere. But then one of the other horses had a difficult time getting out of the water and fell over on top of Kristina's little sister (she was okay) and it startled my horse, who then took of running. Then all of the joy I got from being in the water on the horse was gone and I was crying again. Needless to say, I don't think I'll be jumping on any horses ever again in my life.

The other thing that came to mind when I looked at this picture was how I got the scar on the inside of my elbow. I went with Heather and her mom to the stables late one night to check on the horses after it had been storming all day. One of the posts at the gate entrance into the stable had fallen off so the barbed wire was just dangling. And, long story short, Heather and her mom had already gotten back in the car to leave and I had bent down to tie my shoe. Her mom started backing the car up and I freaked out that they were leaving me and just started running and flailing my arms. And RIP! The loose barbed wire caught my arm and slit my arm open right on the bend of my arm on the inside of my elbow. P.S. That's one of the worst places to have a gash - ever. It hurt every time I bent my arm for the longest time. I still have a scar there.

persistence

per·sis·tent (pr-sstnt, -zs-)adj.

1. Refusing to give up or let go; persevering obstinately.

2. Insistently repetitive or continuous

Persistence seems to be the theme of my life these days. Nothing lately has happened easily or on the first try. It's both big things and small things, but everything has been so frustratingly hard to accomplish.

For example, I was trying to figure out when and where my loan money would be dispersed to me. It being my first time taking out a student loan, I didn't know and nothing during the process of accepting the loan told me when and where to expect it. It doesn't seem like a difficult thing to figure out, right? I read through a ton of material online and couldn't find the answer, so I called the Financial Aid office. The guy said he didn't understand my question... ??? Really? That seems like a pretty standard question to ask someone in the Financial Aid office... Anyways, he told me to read this 8 page document on the website and hung up on me. I read it. It didn't have the answer to my question. I called back. He told me to read this other thing and hung up on me again. I read it. It didn't have the answer either. I called back a third time and the guy finally had a light-bulb-moment and answered my question (and then hung up one me again). I called the same guy - three times - with the same question - and finally got the answer. Ugh.

And that example of having to be persistent was really the least of my worries. I've been planning this huge event for months - I've had 10 different people telling me 10 different things, others not keeping their word in regards to deadlines, and others telling me one thing and then taking it back, all while I'm trying to finalize the details for the event, making me have to go back and change things and start over. I'm finally getting somewhere now after countless hours of research, way too many phone conversations and emails, days and nights typing stuff up, and one too many emotional break downs. Ugh.

There's a long list of other things that have been so frustrating lately, but I'll end my rant there. I just wish one thing would go the way I want it to the first time.