Do earthquakes count as weather? I don't even know. I also didn't know they happened in Virginia, but apparently they do. This has been a crazy week at work, and the earthquake on Tuesday was the beginning of that. About an hour after I got into work, I was sitting in my seat conveniently location directly next to our HUGE wall of windows... oh wait.. our whole office is essentially a huge wall of windows... on the phone, when I heard a loud rumbling and felt shaking. Now, I live near a rock quarry, so this was nothing new. Except for the fact that I was in Tysons, not Ashburn. Naturally, I completely stopped paying attention to whatever the customer was saying, and looked out the window trying to figure out what this was. Earthquake crossed my mind, but then I thought of the more probable things since I don't live in California anymore: huge truck going by, something weird in the parking garage below, a jet flying very low overhead, or even a terrorist attack. After 10 seconds I began realizing this had to be an earthquake, and then it got even harder. That's when those of us who hadn't already freaked out went under our desks. It stopped shortly after, but then we all got evacuated and got to hang out in the parking lot next to our building for the next hour plus.
Now, I've seen a lot of people saying it felt like barely anything. From the people north of here, that makes sense. From people in the Northern Virginia area, I'm shocked. I'm assuming being 5 floors up made the earthquake feel that much more intense? Because from where I was, this could not be missed. We had ceiling fall through in our office, I watched things tumble off their shelves, and my dad's office even had a wall crack. Between that and the Washington Monument cracking, and the National Cathedral breaking... this was a REAL earthquake. Awesome. Just awesome. I love weather... and even things kind of like weather.
One of the coolest parts of this earthquake is definitely the stories that have come out about how animals at the zoos knew it was coming before it came. I wish more people realized that many animals are just as intelligent, if not more intelligent, than humans, and they need to be treated as such. I love the zoo, but its a sad place to go. I can't imagine being stuck in the same place my whole life with no way of deciding to leave, so its sad that they have to live that way.
Now, we have a hurricane coming. We are far enough inland that I doubt its going to be serious, but its cool anyways. So torrential rain and wind is supposedly on our way. That'll be fun when I work Sunday. We also kicked off our new branding this week, it's AWESOME. I still believe I work for the coolest company ever. We have been doing a lot of exciting stuff at work for the branding, but we have also gotten new phones so its been a little hectic. Phones were done for 3 hours yesterday. Craziness. But, it makes it exciting to switch it up, and I'm working with such cool people that I don't care what happens, I'm happy to be there anyways.
Lastly, today I told people at work I would make a peach cobbler for someone's birthday tomorrow. I came home to my dad making peach cobbler. And now I'm making mine. We're a peach family apparently. Thanks to Zach's family for donating the crate of peaches.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Saturday, July 16, 2011
The End of an Era
I saw the final Harry Potter today. Sad.
I don't even know what to make of it. I will say, though, that they FINALLY made a HP movie I actually liked. Usually I am very disappointed in the acting, the way they portrayed the book, something.... All along I have said that every movie since at least 5 should have been in two parts. There is just too much information to cover it all in 2 hours. Finally, they listened to my advice. Learn from this people, I'm always right.
Next subject, because the more I think about that one, the more depressed I'll be. This morning was super amazing, primarily because we have had incredible weather for the past week or so. This morning Zach and I went on a great bike ride and bought an apple pie at Mom's Pie Shop in Leesburg. People at work were talking about how amazing that place is on Thursday, so I've been craving it ever since. Plus, I had chinese food before I ate the pie. Awesome.
Back to the work subject though... everything is still ridiculously great. We are now done with the first part of training and are actually taking customer's calls with a mentor sitting next to us. It was pretty nerve wracking to take our first few calls, but by the end of the day I was loving it. It gets so much easier over time, but its still tough because there is just so much information.
Not much else is new though. Things are good, but time is flying. Oh and I'm plotting a way to get Mitch and Donna to move to the east coast. I never lose my battles, but I'm scared this will change that. But I'm trying anyways..
I don't even know what to make of it. I will say, though, that they FINALLY made a HP movie I actually liked. Usually I am very disappointed in the acting, the way they portrayed the book, something.... All along I have said that every movie since at least 5 should have been in two parts. There is just too much information to cover it all in 2 hours. Finally, they listened to my advice. Learn from this people, I'm always right.
Next subject, because the more I think about that one, the more depressed I'll be. This morning was super amazing, primarily because we have had incredible weather for the past week or so. This morning Zach and I went on a great bike ride and bought an apple pie at Mom's Pie Shop in Leesburg. People at work were talking about how amazing that place is on Thursday, so I've been craving it ever since. Plus, I had chinese food before I ate the pie. Awesome.
Back to the work subject though... everything is still ridiculously great. We are now done with the first part of training and are actually taking customer's calls with a mentor sitting next to us. It was pretty nerve wracking to take our first few calls, but by the end of the day I was loving it. It gets so much easier over time, but its still tough because there is just so much information.
Not much else is new though. Things are good, but time is flying. Oh and I'm plotting a way to get Mitch and Donna to move to the east coast. I never lose my battles, but I'm scared this will change that. But I'm trying anyways..
Friday, July 1, 2011
What a Difference a Month Makes
...Or however long its been since I last updated this thing.
First off, I think I need to do a new blog because now that this wedding is on hold for quite some time, the name doesn't really make a lot of sense. Most of my postings will be completely unrelated to wedding stuff for a while.
Instead, I have other exciting stuff to talk about! First off, its been a crazy awesome week/month for many people in my life, including myself. It started with Isabella's graduation from high school, and just yesterday she got married (on paper, didn't have her going-to-be-gorgeous wedding yet). Very happy and excited for her. Also exciting is that I got a new job! Not just any job, the best job ever. More on that to come. Because of that, Zach took my place at the country club, so he is working now too (almost full time). Dual income will be wonderful. Zach's mom's boyfriend also got a job the same week Zach and I found out we would be at new jobs, so it was an exciting week. Plus, Zach has decided to go back to school and started classes this past Wednesday. Oh, and I got my hair cut. Like, really cut. I loooooove it. Ch-ch-ch-changessssss.
Onto my wonderful, fabulous, amazing job. I got a job at CustomInk.com, a customized t-shirt website. It's kind of funny how it happened. I was training a new girl at work (CCF) as a family came in that I really like. I went over just to say hi to them as they walked in, even though I don't usually do that. I usually would wait until someone sat down, and then maybe only go over if they were my table or I could tell they were trying to talk to me, because I'm always concerned about annoying people. But I went over anyways just because I wanted to say hi to her, and right before she was about to go to her seat she like pulled back to tell me that the company her daughter works for is hiring and gave me all of her information so I could apply. This type of thing is SUPER rare at the club, I've had a few people talk to me about jobs, so I wasn't sure how into it I would be. Butttt she had said they were listed in Washingtonian as a top place to work in DC and had won other accolades, so I looked up the website. Loved the company from the second I got on their website. Not only is it an awesome concept, but then when I read about their work environment and beliefs on everything related to that, I knew it was the perfect place for me. Everything they believe in is what I've been saying for years - and a lot of that comes from my experience at the country club as compared to jobs that I hated and didn't feel like they treated me well. Anyways, to make this slightly shorter, I'll just say that I became more and more obsessed with how awesome this place is when I went on my interviews. I was super nervous by the third interview because it was with the owner of the company. Intimidating. The whole time I felt pretty confident though, which is hind sight I just don't understand. I think I just really knew I would be a good fit for what their looking for, and believed they would be able to tell.
In hind sight, that was CRAZY of me. Now that I've gotten my first week in (btw I found out I had the job last Wednesday and started on Monday.. crazy week) I realize just how competitive it is to get a job here. Hundreds upon hundreds (I know its at least 600) applied for this job. Then I started thinking it was because I had a referral from someone within the company that I was able to get the job, but then I heard that a lot of people who have climbed the ranks within the company (which is common there) have referred multiple people and NONE of them have gotten the job. So obviously the referral isn't even close to a guarantee. Today I found out that they had several people interviewing daily for the past 2 months plus. That's what really blew my mind, because only 4 of us were hired for this training session. They planned on hiring just a few more after us, but today we found out they were going to hire another 12. The company is growing so quickly, so its an exciting time to join their ranks.
Why is this job so awesome?? There are too many reasons to list, so I'll just mention the first few that cross my mind.... First off, it pays really well for an entry level job. They train us for the first like 2 months of the job or so, so they are really setting you up to succeed and take their time shaping every one of us. Then, they really just focus on making the customer happy, so its not like we will ever have to argue with a customer or deal with unhappy customers really. We can make them happy, so that makes it that much better. On Monday mornings they put out breakfast. On Tuesday they get boxes of fresh fruit delivered to the office that sits out in the eating area until its all gone (as of today, a Friday, there was still a little left). Every Friday they have lunch and dinner catered. At the end of every month they put out cake for the birthdays. The office is a circle, with windows everywhere, and the center of the circle is a courtyard that has picnic tables, benches, an arbor with Xmas lights, trees... its gorgeous. People eat out there and hang out out there during the summer. During the winter, there is a room with comfy chairs and couches and a fireplace, complete with iPads for people to use. There is also food like Nature Valley bars, popcorn, etc. always out, as well as a Starbucks machine.... that's free. Oh, and the average age is like 28, which is cool in itself.. but what makes it even better is how awesome each and every person there is. They all want to be friends with you, they are all nice and interesting (we employ professional artists for redraws of designs, just to give you an idea of the kind of people), and despite how awesome they are, everyone is still a hard worker so it isn't frustrating. Last thing I'll mention so I can go have cheese and crackers with my fam... we can wear whatever we want. I mean whatever. Jeans and flip flops are encouraged. Many guys wear basketball shorts and a t-shirt. But you can also wear dresses, skirts, whatever. Essentially its like walking onto a college campus, because they're all your age and your friends, and they're all wearing what they would wear to hang out or go to class. Ugh I love it.
BBQ time!
First off, I think I need to do a new blog because now that this wedding is on hold for quite some time, the name doesn't really make a lot of sense. Most of my postings will be completely unrelated to wedding stuff for a while.
Instead, I have other exciting stuff to talk about! First off, its been a crazy awesome week/month for many people in my life, including myself. It started with Isabella's graduation from high school, and just yesterday she got married (on paper, didn't have her going-to-be-gorgeous wedding yet). Very happy and excited for her. Also exciting is that I got a new job! Not just any job, the best job ever. More on that to come. Because of that, Zach took my place at the country club, so he is working now too (almost full time). Dual income will be wonderful. Zach's mom's boyfriend also got a job the same week Zach and I found out we would be at new jobs, so it was an exciting week. Plus, Zach has decided to go back to school and started classes this past Wednesday. Oh, and I got my hair cut. Like, really cut. I loooooove it. Ch-ch-ch-changessssss.
Onto my wonderful, fabulous, amazing job. I got a job at CustomInk.com, a customized t-shirt website. It's kind of funny how it happened. I was training a new girl at work (CCF) as a family came in that I really like. I went over just to say hi to them as they walked in, even though I don't usually do that. I usually would wait until someone sat down, and then maybe only go over if they were my table or I could tell they were trying to talk to me, because I'm always concerned about annoying people. But I went over anyways just because I wanted to say hi to her, and right before she was about to go to her seat she like pulled back to tell me that the company her daughter works for is hiring and gave me all of her information so I could apply. This type of thing is SUPER rare at the club, I've had a few people talk to me about jobs, so I wasn't sure how into it I would be. Butttt she had said they were listed in Washingtonian as a top place to work in DC and had won other accolades, so I looked up the website. Loved the company from the second I got on their website. Not only is it an awesome concept, but then when I read about their work environment and beliefs on everything related to that, I knew it was the perfect place for me. Everything they believe in is what I've been saying for years - and a lot of that comes from my experience at the country club as compared to jobs that I hated and didn't feel like they treated me well. Anyways, to make this slightly shorter, I'll just say that I became more and more obsessed with how awesome this place is when I went on my interviews. I was super nervous by the third interview because it was with the owner of the company. Intimidating. The whole time I felt pretty confident though, which is hind sight I just don't understand. I think I just really knew I would be a good fit for what their looking for, and believed they would be able to tell.
In hind sight, that was CRAZY of me. Now that I've gotten my first week in (btw I found out I had the job last Wednesday and started on Monday.. crazy week) I realize just how competitive it is to get a job here. Hundreds upon hundreds (I know its at least 600) applied for this job. Then I started thinking it was because I had a referral from someone within the company that I was able to get the job, but then I heard that a lot of people who have climbed the ranks within the company (which is common there) have referred multiple people and NONE of them have gotten the job. So obviously the referral isn't even close to a guarantee. Today I found out that they had several people interviewing daily for the past 2 months plus. That's what really blew my mind, because only 4 of us were hired for this training session. They planned on hiring just a few more after us, but today we found out they were going to hire another 12. The company is growing so quickly, so its an exciting time to join their ranks.
Why is this job so awesome?? There are too many reasons to list, so I'll just mention the first few that cross my mind.... First off, it pays really well for an entry level job. They train us for the first like 2 months of the job or so, so they are really setting you up to succeed and take their time shaping every one of us. Then, they really just focus on making the customer happy, so its not like we will ever have to argue with a customer or deal with unhappy customers really. We can make them happy, so that makes it that much better. On Monday mornings they put out breakfast. On Tuesday they get boxes of fresh fruit delivered to the office that sits out in the eating area until its all gone (as of today, a Friday, there was still a little left). Every Friday they have lunch and dinner catered. At the end of every month they put out cake for the birthdays. The office is a circle, with windows everywhere, and the center of the circle is a courtyard that has picnic tables, benches, an arbor with Xmas lights, trees... its gorgeous. People eat out there and hang out out there during the summer. During the winter, there is a room with comfy chairs and couches and a fireplace, complete with iPads for people to use. There is also food like Nature Valley bars, popcorn, etc. always out, as well as a Starbucks machine.... that's free. Oh, and the average age is like 28, which is cool in itself.. but what makes it even better is how awesome each and every person there is. They all want to be friends with you, they are all nice and interesting (we employ professional artists for redraws of designs, just to give you an idea of the kind of people), and despite how awesome they are, everyone is still a hard worker so it isn't frustrating. Last thing I'll mention so I can go have cheese and crackers with my fam... we can wear whatever we want. I mean whatever. Jeans and flip flops are encouraged. Many guys wear basketball shorts and a t-shirt. But you can also wear dresses, skirts, whatever. Essentially its like walking onto a college campus, because they're all your age and your friends, and they're all wearing what they would wear to hang out or go to class. Ugh I love it.
BBQ time!
Friday, June 17, 2011
Putting Everything on Hold
So, I haven't updated lately.... again. Surprise Surprise.
First things first, the wedding is delayed for who knows how long at this point. The only reason to have the wedding right now was because Zach was joining the military. Now, it looks like he is not joining, and instead he is going back to school this fall. Because of that not only do we not have a legal reason to need a marriage certificate, but we also will most likely be living at home for a while since Zach isn't looking for a career, just a job to have during school.
It will also help give me more time to set a date and let people know about it with ample time, find a great venue, decide food options and a dress... etc. I have found a couple more venues to go investigate, and I have found a food option that I'm excited about but still need to feel it out. I thought I knew the exact dress I wanted, until Isabella and I went to some super fancy store outside Georgetown and tried on dresses. I loved a look that was entirely different, so I'm going to keep considering other options and try to find something similar to this for LESS than the $7500 price tag. :/
I'm actually very relieved to have it pushed back indefinitely. I was stressed about figuring everything out so quickly, plus it was putting a strain on our relationship. I'm so picky that its hard to plan something as huge as a wedding that quickly. Now I have more time to find DIY projects and do them, really explore all the options and everything else.
First things first, the wedding is delayed for who knows how long at this point. The only reason to have the wedding right now was because Zach was joining the military. Now, it looks like he is not joining, and instead he is going back to school this fall. Because of that not only do we not have a legal reason to need a marriage certificate, but we also will most likely be living at home for a while since Zach isn't looking for a career, just a job to have during school.
It will also help give me more time to set a date and let people know about it with ample time, find a great venue, decide food options and a dress... etc. I have found a couple more venues to go investigate, and I have found a food option that I'm excited about but still need to feel it out. I thought I knew the exact dress I wanted, until Isabella and I went to some super fancy store outside Georgetown and tried on dresses. I loved a look that was entirely different, so I'm going to keep considering other options and try to find something similar to this for LESS than the $7500 price tag. :/
I'm actually very relieved to have it pushed back indefinitely. I was stressed about figuring everything out so quickly, plus it was putting a strain on our relationship. I'm so picky that its hard to plan something as huge as a wedding that quickly. Now I have more time to find DIY projects and do them, really explore all the options and everything else.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Complete Overhaul
So the past week or so has been fairly crazy, wedding wise. I originally had planned on doing the most casual wedding imaginable, and then not a reception for another year or so. That changed once we moved home, because that super casual wedding kept expanding. As of last week this wedding had turned into a "real" wedding. We looked at reception venues and it seemed like things were just getting more typical wedding... and more expensive. Seeing the numbers makes me think of what else we could be spending this money on. Yesterday Zach and I went on a hike and decided we're taking this thing back to basic. We'll find some local place to rent for the day, have some BBQ and some very casual food.. fruit platters, cheese displays, desserts, you know. Food, but not anything close to a sit down dinner. It feels more like us. THEN instead of spending that money on just one day, we are going to go on a mini honeymoon right after the wedding, and then next summer we will go to Europe for a few weeks with my family (but I don't think we'll stay together the whole time). This has me WAY more excited. Zach is rightfully concerned that if we don't do a traditional wedding I will regret it, but I'm fairly certain I would regret spending the money on one party instead of the trip of a lifetime.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Blah, Blah, Blah
Not much new to report. Went shopping for weddings dresses a couple times recently, and I think I may have found the dress I want. I went and saw a bunch at Tysons II with my mom, and I had already found a particular dress that I liked, and as I was looking at these other dresses, I kept thinking of the first one. So, maybe thats the sign? There are parts of it that aren't 100% perfect, but I'm figuring that I can have a tailor fix those. We shall see!
Venues.... oh venues... I have found 1,000 places that are great, but some just don't have the right feeling, or are crazy expensive, or are far away and everyone would have to get a hotel. I like the idea of a mini-vacation... but I don't want to force people to spend more money than they want to. Still a chance it will be somewhere that requires a hotel, but I am looking at a more local venue on Thursday, and I am really hoping that it will work out, because I need to get this thing figured out.
Things I have figured out... I like the idea of keeping this wedding as close to home as possible, which has worked so far. Ceremony officiant? Zach's friend's mom. Who will make our wedding cake? My friend from work, Kristen, who is going to school to be a chef. Photographer? Friend's boyfriend. I love it.
So hopefully by my next post I'll have more major things figured out (hopefully enough that I can send out invitations).
Venues.... oh venues... I have found 1,000 places that are great, but some just don't have the right feeling, or are crazy expensive, or are far away and everyone would have to get a hotel. I like the idea of a mini-vacation... but I don't want to force people to spend more money than they want to. Still a chance it will be somewhere that requires a hotel, but I am looking at a more local venue on Thursday, and I am really hoping that it will work out, because I need to get this thing figured out.
Things I have figured out... I like the idea of keeping this wedding as close to home as possible, which has worked so far. Ceremony officiant? Zach's friend's mom. Who will make our wedding cake? My friend from work, Kristen, who is going to school to be a chef. Photographer? Friend's boyfriend. I love it.
So hopefully by my next post I'll have more major things figured out (hopefully enough that I can send out invitations).
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Decisions, Decisions
Well, I would say that I'm awful at keeping up with this blog... but there still isn't much to report so I guess theres a good reason I haven't been updating?
I've looked at a lot of venues online, and ruled a lot out. I'm SO picky (more on that to come later). Its not so much that I think I'm going to find a perfect venue... I just want one that will let me have a lot of control over the wedding, since I don't want your traditional wedding. One of the things I HAVE decided (for now..) is that I want it to be a cross between what a BBQ and a garden party would feel like. Garden party because I want it to be pretty and class, but BBQ because I want it to be fun. Zach's mom always said to just have a fun party, and I think that is what I want to do. I'm not so into formal.. I can't imagine myself doing some grand walk down the aisle to all these people waiting in chairs staring at me. I rather just do a quick ceremony with people gathered around (like my uncle Todd had) and then have a bunch of food and fun. Maybe even fun little things like a photobooth so people can take crazy pictures or ladderball.
Anyways, I thought I had found the PERFECT venue.. partially because it isn't really used for a lot of weddings so it could feel more like a party. Its also fairly close by, in Winchester, which is better than one of my favorite venues so far, which is down between Richmond and Williamsburg. I like the idea of having a mini destination wedding, as I've mentioned before, but my mom isn't so into the idea. Anyways, the venue said there is no access to a BATHROOM!!! This is not the first venue to have a bathroom issue (since I want to be outdoors), and some of them even include the rental of "nice" portapotties in the price of the property. I can't even imagine. Maybe there are some nice ones, I guess I'll have to look into it and give it a chance... but uhhh, wow. Way to make things difficult.
The other news is the wedding dress. I went to the Running of the Brides in DC two weekends ago with my mom, Tracey, Kristen, Katie and Sarah. It was SOOO much fun. Most of the dresses looked really cheap, though, and the ones that were nice just weren't the style I was going for. Oh well, I kind of new ahead of time I was too picky to find something there.. but we had a blast anyways. I have wanted to go since I heard about the event years ago, and I would definitely recommend it to everyone. People are CRAZY.
Isabella comes home in June for a couple weeks and we are going up to Kleinfeld in NYC then. Hopefully I will have a dress by then, but she is trying to pick hers out. I also hope to have a wedding date and venue picked out by then so I can send out invitations! I hate that I haven't been able to send them out yet. But when she is here we are going to do a lot of crafty wedding things together, hopefully including making the invitations, so my goal is to have everything figured out by then. A bonus to wanting to be all crafty for this wedding? I read an article the other day that one of the popular trends this year is crafty weddings! Sweet. We were way ahead of our time.
I've looked at a lot of venues online, and ruled a lot out. I'm SO picky (more on that to come later). Its not so much that I think I'm going to find a perfect venue... I just want one that will let me have a lot of control over the wedding, since I don't want your traditional wedding. One of the things I HAVE decided (for now..) is that I want it to be a cross between what a BBQ and a garden party would feel like. Garden party because I want it to be pretty and class, but BBQ because I want it to be fun. Zach's mom always said to just have a fun party, and I think that is what I want to do. I'm not so into formal.. I can't imagine myself doing some grand walk down the aisle to all these people waiting in chairs staring at me. I rather just do a quick ceremony with people gathered around (like my uncle Todd had) and then have a bunch of food and fun. Maybe even fun little things like a photobooth so people can take crazy pictures or ladderball.
Anyways, I thought I had found the PERFECT venue.. partially because it isn't really used for a lot of weddings so it could feel more like a party. Its also fairly close by, in Winchester, which is better than one of my favorite venues so far, which is down between Richmond and Williamsburg. I like the idea of having a mini destination wedding, as I've mentioned before, but my mom isn't so into the idea. Anyways, the venue said there is no access to a BATHROOM!!! This is not the first venue to have a bathroom issue (since I want to be outdoors), and some of them even include the rental of "nice" portapotties in the price of the property. I can't even imagine. Maybe there are some nice ones, I guess I'll have to look into it and give it a chance... but uhhh, wow. Way to make things difficult.
The other news is the wedding dress. I went to the Running of the Brides in DC two weekends ago with my mom, Tracey, Kristen, Katie and Sarah. It was SOOO much fun. Most of the dresses looked really cheap, though, and the ones that were nice just weren't the style I was going for. Oh well, I kind of new ahead of time I was too picky to find something there.. but we had a blast anyways. I have wanted to go since I heard about the event years ago, and I would definitely recommend it to everyone. People are CRAZY.
Isabella comes home in June for a couple weeks and we are going up to Kleinfeld in NYC then. Hopefully I will have a dress by then, but she is trying to pick hers out. I also hope to have a wedding date and venue picked out by then so I can send out invitations! I hate that I haven't been able to send them out yet. But when she is here we are going to do a lot of crafty wedding things together, hopefully including making the invitations, so my goal is to have everything figured out by then. A bonus to wanting to be all crafty for this wedding? I read an article the other day that one of the popular trends this year is crafty weddings! Sweet. We were way ahead of our time.
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