What I Want to Be When I Grow Up

I still don't exactly know what I want to be when I grow up. But I think I have made up my own job and would love for it to be a real career. Lately, I have been renewing my love for Pinterest - the site of all goodness. As I have pinning away at all kinds of ideas for decorating for the holidays, baking goodies or even storage organization tips, I figured that there must be some kind of profession out there that will allow me to be a professional Pinterest tester. Someone needs to double check the validity of all these good ideas.

Many of the things I pin come from blogs where the project was actually completed by someone who then wrote about it and it ended up on Pinterest. But I would be willing to try to recreate the things to see if it really is as easy or as good as what the posts say. Then I could give my stamp of approval on the pin so people know it is a trusted project - like verified accounts on Twitter. It makes perfect sense, at least in my mind. There could be a whole crew of people who test out pins as interests vary.

I also think this would help me getting in gear to actually complete some of the great projects I have pinned. I have been exploring my creative side this past year - learning how to knit, learning how to sew, etc. and Pinterest has only heightened that desire to be creative and do things myself to make the space around me more pretty. How people come up with some of these ideas is completely mind-boggling.

As summer is quickly turning into fall, I am hoping the colder months will bring more time to complete some of these projects. I started working on a 4th of July rag wreath in the spring it is still yet to be finished. Next year summer I will be able to use it. I purchased a wooden J to hang on a family picture wall earlier this summer that I want to paint and mod podge it with scrapbook paper. I have everything to do this simple project, but everything is in a bag in my spare bedroom, also known as the land of potential projects.

There is always a lot of enthusiasm when these ideas pop up. But when it comes time to complete them, life somehow gets in the way. I don't often have hours of free time to complete projects, but if it was my job I would gladly spend my time cutting, gluing, sewing and painting away.

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Take a Kid to Work - WHAT?

Take your child to work day… The one day a year, small humans feel so special that they get to skip a day of school and head to work with their parent.

Now, when I was little, it was JUST take your daughter to work day, but has since become take your child to work.

My mom was a teacher – so in a sense I was STILL going to school (just not my school). And I knew what a teacher did at their job – I was surrounded all day by a teacher. But it was different, and it made me feel “cool.”

I got to write on the chalkboard, check papers, have lunch in the teacher’s lounge, play with the bunny in the science class, AND I got to do all the work that my mom assigned to the kids (I wanted to prove I was smarter than them and could get the highest grade). Yes, I was an over-achiever and a perfectionist even as a 8 year old.

I’m not sure I ever got out of it what the actual goal of “Take Your Child to Work Day” is, which is apparently a program that goes beyond the average “shadow” an adult and shows them the value of their education, helping them discover the power and possibilities associated with a balanced work and family life, and providing them an opportunity to share how they envision the future and begin steps toward their end goals in a hands-on and interactive environment is key to their achieving success.

I knew my mom had to deal with bratty children, I knew she came home covered in chalk dust, I knew once she got home she made dinner and then sat and graded papers. I knew this. It didn’t inspire me to be a teacher.  I wanted to be an astronaut. (Those lucky kids probably got to use a weightlessness simulator when they went to work with their parents.)

Which makes me think – what would be some of the best jobs to go to work with your parent to, how about the worst?

Best:

• Disney Characters
• Zoo Keeper
• Chef/Baker
• Rob Dyrdek (because he has the best jobs in the world)

Worst

• Garbage Man
• Restaurant Dishwasher
• Farmer
• Pedicurist
• Undertaker

What did your parents do? Did you like going to work with them?

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The Best Job Ever

Did you ever look back on a past job you held and thought to yourself, wouldn't it be fun to step back into that position and do it all over again? I am sure there are a lot of you thinking, WOW she's off her rocker today! But the job I had when I was in college was honestly the best job I ever had, and I can't imagine a better job that has yet to come. I would gladly go back and work it again...if only I made more money!! $$

My sophmore year of college a Starbucks opened up nearby. Growing up in Slippery Rock (yes, where the University is), there was not a Starbucks for miles upon miles. And I can't even think of when I was at a Starbucks to even know what it was about. But I knew that it was new, just opening, and they were hiring. So I went in and filled out an application. The girls behind the counter seemed like they were happy and were just chatting away to me - a great first impression.

A couple of days later I had an interview and I remember the manager asking me if I would like a drink, on the house. Since I had never been to a Starbucks before, I quickly glanced at the menu and picked a strawberry frap. I have never been a coffee person, so I avoided that but still, this was my first Starbucks drink experience...and it was good!

So I was hired and I can truthfully tell you the first couple weeks were stressful and hard. I know you're laughing at me thinking how hard can it be to sling some coffee, but it is so much more than that. It is memorizing recipes (no wonder my memory is shot now) and customer's usual drinks, and basically just being super friendly even on some days that you just didn't want to be around anyone.

However, once I got the swing of it, the job became enjoyable. Going to work was actually fun and it was all because I loved the customers, I loved the people I worked with, it was a great organization who cared about their employees (AKA- partners) and it was so easy! I was lucky to work with a WONDERFUL group of girls (we had a few guys here and there but the girls stuck around) and we all became best friends, and still are to this day. Sure, some have moved away, and came back, but we all still talk and when we get together it is like we haven't skipped a beat.

So now can you think of a job that was the best job ever? Or maybe it is your job now! That would be lucky. Tell me about where you work/worked and what made it so special.

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An Ode to My Friends

Some of you may or may not know this but I recently accepted a new position with another company. I regret to say that I had to leave my wonderful WW&B friends behind. I will no longer get to see them every day or enjoy their lunch company. For now, it is the occasional lunch meet-up or after work happy hour. What we had goin’ is hard to find, it is not every job that you will thoroughly enjoy the people you work with. When I found myself lying in bed, cursing my alarm I would think to myself, “hey, at least I get to go in and hang out with the girls!” - it made it easier to get out of bed. Now, when I say I would get to “hang out with the girls” I do not mean that we got to sit around and talk boys (ok sometimes we did), paint our nails and fix eachother’s hair, I mean that we got along so well that work didn’t always seem like work. We had fun bouncing ideas off of each other and working on projects together.

So here I am, in my new job, feeling lost. Where do I fit in? A new crowd of people-I am the newbie. Every time you get a new job you go through it, first you are elated with excitement that you got the job; you celebrate with your friends and think of the fun, new things to come for your career. After that, you start to panic and question if you will be able to do the job. You get nervous about your new responsibilities, the new company culture and of course, the new people you will be working with.

I have come to realize, while starting a job is a stressful experience, it doesn’t have to be full of constant worry and anxiety. Keeping a positive outlook and using your new role as a stepping ground to a new, exciting time in your career– that is the way to go. It is ok and normal to feel overwhelmed because everything is drastically different.

Even though it will be a bit harder to see the girls, and will take much more planning than before, I know that we will all remain friends and see each other on a more regular basis. I am grateful to have had the chance to work with such amazing people. Whether they know this or not, I really learned a lot from all of them both on a personal and professional level. Instead of co-workers, they became friends and as I said before, that doesn’t happen often.

So this is an ode to you, my lovely WW&B friends/bloggers/co-workers/comrades –I miss you!

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Career Bullsh*t

I’m sure we have all heard the career advice, “do what you love.” I say forget it. Think about it, we do what we love no matter what, because we love it, not because we get paid to do it.

Career decisions are not decisions about what do I love most. Career decisions are about what kind of life I want to set up for myself. How could you possibly pick one thing you love to do?

The world reveals to you what you love by what you spend time on. Try stuff. If you like it, you'll go back to it. I recently tried being crafty. If you read past blogs of mine you may have learned that I started to paint wine and shot glasses. At first I didn't want to try, I wanted my friend to be the creative one and use my idea. When she and I got together to give my ‘idea’ a try, I started to paint and loved it. Although very time consuming, the end result of painted glass is awesome. Anyway, in reality, I would never do this for a living.

Not all of us are going to be so lucky to do what we love for a living. For instance, I have always loved fashion. Let’s face it, I am never going to be the next Rachel Zoe. That just wasn’t in my cards. I am sure Rachel loves her job, she always says she does at least. She’s lucky. For the rest of us living in the normal world, we have to come to the realization that instead of choosing a career we LOVE, we may have to instead do things we love to do outside of work.

I always wonder how we are supposed to decide what we want out of life when we are only 18 years old. Choosing a life path in college is tough. How is a kid supposed to know what they want to do with the rest of their life? They don’t even know all of the possibilities out there. The pressure we feel to find a perfect career is insane. And, given that most people are trying to find it before they are thirty, in order to avoid a biological-clock crisis, the pressure is enough to push people over the edge. Oddly enough, one of the highest risk times for depression in life is in one's early twenties when people realize how totally impossible it is to simply "do what you love."

Good relationships make you feel great, not jobs. A job can ruin your life and make you feel out of control in terms of your time or your ability to accomplish goals - no job will make your life complete. Doing what you love will make you feel happy but you don't necessarily need to get paid for it.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not telling you to be miserable with your career choice - that is no way to live. But there is no need to stress yourself out or beat yourself up over not having the most perfect job that you love going to everyday, that just isn’t reality. If you feel overwhelmed and looking to “do what you love” you are totally normal. Stop being so hard on yourself and realize you don’t have to find a career that you necessarily LOVE. Find a job or career that accommodates your strengths and skills. Love comes from relationships, not our everyday work, so make sure you keep the good people in your life that you’ve got.

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