Archive for June 2010
Couch 2 5k.
Last week I decided to join a group of peeps on Twitter to accomplish a Couch to 5k running plan!!! Week 1, Day 1 started tonight.
http://runningbetweentweets.com/2010/06/29/you-gotta-start-somewhere-right/
I’m excited and hope to actually get my fitness back on track here with the help of some supportive new online buddies.
Wish me luck!
Look at this!
Sweet baby Bronwyn sporting a lovely floral headband from The Stitches by Krust Etsy shop, during a photo shoot set up by her lovely mother, Eileen from Bringing up Bronwyn.
I am so happy that I get to share them. Look at that precious face <3
Stitches by Krust Giveaway @ Mom-nom.com!!!
First of all, Check out Bubbette rocking her felt flower elastic headband!!!
Such a lovely little lady. More here: Mom-nom.com: It’s Krust!
Go enter for a free item of you choice from my shop, at Mom-nom.com
Win something for yourself, a little lady in your life, or a friend!
To do:
My list.
-wait anxiously for business cards.
-Hoping to get to work on a new banner tonight, and use some more updated photos.
-Finish watermelon tutorial, and start giveaway with Emmiebee! (It’s pretty cute guys)
-clips for Lisa.
-Work on new flower headbands
-finish little clippies
-Work on Clutches/bags
-Take new photos, get peeps to model some goods!
-Have new product ready to list in Etsy shop by Sunday June 20 (or sooner)
-Ask for requests!
Is there anything in particular you’d love to see me attempt? I’d love to hear about it, and give it a shot. A favorite food, that you’d love made of felt for playtime? A favorite flower, you’d like to wear in your hair? Anything!
I’m intrigued…
Women’s Faux-Leather Sandal Flats at OldNavy.com:
Wonder what these look like on. I think I want them.
Yes or no? Tattoos and piercings in the workplace.
My ears are gauged to 5/8″, I have a little clear rhinestone gem Marylin piercing, and these regularly visible tattoos on my inner wrists.
It’s all quite subtle really. But, I worry people will judge even the slightest, so every time I interview somewhere (Since I left Urban Outfitters) I remove my Marylin piercing, I put in my Cubic Zirconia plugs because I think they look a little less like plugs than my tunnels, and I always wear long sleeves to cover my tattoos. Deceiving? Yes.
At my last job, after I was offered the job I noticed another coworker had large gauged ears, and a stretch nose piercing. It was reassuring and easy for me to feel more comfortable wearing short sleeves and exposing those wrist tattoos, and putting my Marylin piercing back in. My boss noticed it about a month later, and commented that I didn’t have the piercing originally. I told here I took it out for the interview and she laughed and called me sneaky. I always had a really great relationship with her regardless. Turns out she was pretty hip, and had a few tattoos hiding underneath her clothes… As my time went on with the company, I realized more employees had piercings, and more employees with visible piercings and tattoos were hired. I was comfortable with them showing because I no longer worried about being judged or presenting an unprofessional image. I have always been tasteful and appropriate in my work wardrobe. Even if some days, I was more comfortable than others. Our dress code was very relaxed there. I wore jeans everyday. If I did get dressed up (because sometimes it just feels good to) I would get accused of having an interview elsewhere… yeah, that happened. It’s not bad. It was followed by a compliment. But, it did make me uncomfortable with getting too dressed up for work. So, I kept with my casual apparel, and I did love it. It was so easy.
I am on day 4 on my new position. I wore a short sleeved top on day 2, but I still have not put my piercing back in. And I miss it. I have stepped up my daily wardrobe in the past 4 days. I feel much more grown up, as I am dressing the part. I haven’t worn jeans to work, I put on nice shoes, not just flats, nice pants, and make sure my nails are done.
The atmosphere here is different than at my last job’s office. It is still laid back and relaxed mostly. But, people carry themselves a little different. People are a bit more professional in their appearances. And, I happen to love that. It’s inspiring, and fun! Fun, because I get to get ready in the morning, and feel good about how I look. But, I am worried about putting my piercing back in, and what people will think of my silly little visible tattoos.
I’m sure I’m mostly over thinking it all because, one thing about my Marylin piercing, is that it is just as visible without it in, as it is in. And I personally thinks a gaping hole looks much worse thane a gem:
Gem (with piercing in)
Gaping hole (without and jewelry)
I’d like to get some feedback, if anyone happens to come across this post. What is the dress code like where you work? Do you have visible tattoos and piercings that you hide, or let show at work? What are your feelings on tattoos or piercings showing in an somewhat professional office environment?
I love good people, and good companies, an ode to The Resume Cafe.
Quite a doozy, a really serious testimonial of sorts.
And now to recognize a really great company, who had a HUGE part in me landing my new job. Seriously, I think they did more work than me. A GIGANTIC Thank You to The Resume Cafe.
When things first started getting rocky at my previous job (i.e. salary getting chopped in HALF) I started working on my resume, yet again. It has always been a daunting task for me. My work experience is somewhat random, as I have tried working in various fields, and I do not have a college degree. It’s always been extremely difficult for me to get what is my mind into words and put on paper. It just doesn’t happen. In my head, my retail, customer service, tech support, project management, human resources, software QA, call center experience translates into this awesome mesh of skills and a professional background that would be great for many positions. When trying to get that on paper, to me, it always just looked RANDOM. Like I just bounced around from place to place, doing whatever I felt like at the time. Which I sort of was, as I was trying to find out what I wanted to do with my life. Nowadays, I have a better idea of what I want to be doing, but, I still want that random experience doing other things to show, as I worked damn hard to gain that experience.
As I began working on my Resume, and STRESSING over it (typical), I considered having it professionally done. I was referred to a website that did them for $300. 
I quickly realized that I was on my own. My salary was just cut in half, and I knew I was very close to being out of a job all together, $300 was not in my budget. So, I continued to work on my Resume myself, and sent a few out. And just like the first time I was unemployed, no bites. Nothing.
Within a short period of time my Mommy blogger Sister-in-Law, directed me over to a blog of a fellow Mommy blogger friend of hers, Law-Momma. Law-Momma was hosting a giveaway on her blog that week to have your Resume professionally written and 2 custom cover letters done for free by The Resume Cafe, along with a discount code for readers who did not win the giveaway to go to the site and get this same package at a discounted price! the regular rate for this package is $99. Seriously. That’s what I’m talking about! That’s a price someone on a budget can handle a bit better. I was stoked!
I entered the giveaway, and immediately emailed the people at The Resume Cafe to get the ball rolling. Even if I didn’t win the giveaway (Which I didn’t) I was going to use their services anyhow. I immediately started talked to one of the professional writers who immediately began boosting my confidence!!!! I was sent a questionnaire to fill out, and I sent them my own sketchy resume. I was instantly understood. The writer was impressed by my diverse professional background, and made me feel confident that it would all transpire on paper in to a really strong resume. We chatted every so often over Gchat, we were in contact the whole time. At one point, she told me she felt like she really knew me, which was refreshing as she was writing my resume. She had done research regarding the job market in my area even. She was amazingggg! I felt great.
When I got my resume draft, I sat jaw dropped for some time. I couldn’t believe the way she worded my work experience and what I was looking for in a job so perfectly. The top of my resume reads:
“-Exemplary project leader: experiencing success managing both people and financial resources through an organized, detail-focused and strategic management approach
-Over six years of experience in customer service, quality assurance, data analysis and project leadership
-Diverse employee: willing to work in a variety of capacities to ensure deadlines are reached for projects and clients
-Proven ability to adapt skills to a new industry: has successfully managed transitions from retail markets to highly technical information technology environments”
Perfect.
I was ecstatic.
After receieving my completed resume, I recieved a cover letter that I asked for to be written for a specific position I wanted, and one eneric cover letter) both were amazing and on point. I have never been able to write a proper cover letter that was more than a paragragh. My cover letter were always just these cheesey emails introducing my resume. Clearly, I never really knew what I was doing, and needed the help.
I was unemployed from december 2008 – june 2009, I did not have my Resume done at that point, and it was a rough 6 months. I got very few interviews, and felt like I applied for about a million jobs. Looking for work, became my full time job. This time, I had my resume done by The Resume Cafe. I was Laid off from my position on May 14. I applied to less than 15 positions, went on 2 interviews, and one phone interview. I interviewed with my current company on May 21st and again on the 25th, I was called and offered a position the next day May 26th, and Started June 7. I was only out of work for 3 weeks. It could have been less if I had applied more aggressively to more positions. But, part of me was holding out for something good. And, I got it.
I will be eternally grateful to the work The Resume Cafe did for me, for the time they took, and the interest, and care, and amazing communication they kept with me through out it, and to this day. Even though I got a great discounted price, I feel like I got service worth well over $300.
Wow, that ended up being quite long… Didn’t realize I had so much to say!
I’ll be taking a trick of Mandy’s from Harper’s Happenings (hope that’s okay).
Summary: I read more Mom blogs than I probably should. Being unemployed is rough, confidence is important but hard to find it during that time, a good resume is important as it’s the first thing a company sees when they are considering you, professional resumes can be expensive, The Resume Cafe has great deals on great resumes, and delivers amazing results. I LOVE The Resume Cafe for helping me through a really tough time.
Shooot, just saw this and had to share! They are doing a Summer Student Special. $32 for one resume and one cover letter. That’s an amazing price! Anyone just graduate? Get in on this!!!! That’s cheaper than a tank of gas!!!
Here I go!
Hallelujah!
So, you may or may not have heard that I have started working again.
Yeah. The job I was stressing about interviewing for. I got it. I started on Monay, and am loving it! I have my own huge cubicle and desk! Yes, I am excited about my cubicle. I have a plaque with my name on it just at the entrance. It’s pretty rad.
I started doing actual work (not even training) within hours of starting, it feels so good. I started during a really hectic week, so there is a ton to do. Fortunately I have had some relax time, and am totally ready to take anything on, I feel like.
The company is great, the people are awesome, we are provided with snacks and good coffee. My coworkers took me for a Sushi lunch yesterday to welcome me to the team, and today (and twice a month), The company buys everyone a pizza lunch. Awesome. I got pretty damn lucky. I hate interviewing and only had to go through about 3 total. So, Thank you to whoever is watching out for me <3
I feel good here. It feels right. I’m still new and still adjusting and feeling everything out obviously. But, I can see myself doing really well with the company, and I plan to. So, here I go…
New Favorite: Cate Blanchett
I recently saw Robin Hood. (It was actually a few weeks ago, and I’ve been meaning to do this post since, but I’ve been busy.)
Anyhow, seeing this movie really opened my eyes to the whole Russel Crowe hotness I always hear people talk about, and usually think “huh? reallyyyyy?” Well, ladies. I see it. It’s all so clear to me now. He really is somewhat of a sexy beast. Maybe just as Robin Hood? I have yet to see him in anything else.
Although I’m thinking watching Gladiator might make it on to my to do list….
Another new favorite of mine, I have discovered after watching Robin Hood, and the reason for this here post:
The lovely, Cate Blanchett.
Before Robin Hood, I had only seen her in Lord Of The Rings, and the most recent Indiana Jones movie. Since seeing her play Maid Marian, I have become a bit obsessed. I got a bit choked up when she rode in one her horse to fight with the men. I Love a good old fashioned bad ass.
I think she is gorgeous. She just looks so classy, and timeless. I read an article and interview with her in a magazine at the doctors office, and fell in love. She seems like a super cool chick with a great sense of humor. Cate Blanchett is a new favorite.
I plan to have myself a Cate movie marathon, to catch up on some of her flicks. I have actually wanted to see Elizabeth: The Golden Age since it came out, but never did.
