Happy Birthday to ME!

So here I am at work, trying to 'fly under the radar' and avoid telling any of my coworkers that today is my birthday. Call me lame, but I didn't want any of them to feel bad about not getting me a bday cake, since I normally get a cake for everyone around here on their birthday. Just one of my lovely admin duties around here :)

Well, the hubs is all too sweet and completely gives me away....

Thanks hun for sending me flowers at work. Now my cubicle smells like flowers :) And they sure are purtey to look at!

I apologize for the awful photo quality. You can thank my 3-year old cell phone :) That's right, it's quite ancient and I refuse to upgrade it because new technology scares the 'beejezus' outta me. More on that on a different day....

Anyway, I just wanted to say how thankful I am to have such a sweet and thoughtful husband to celebrate my birthday with :) And once again, he's out-done himself, and left me scrambling for ideas for his birthday!! ha!

And he's also managed to turn my entire Finance Department against me since they now know it's my birthday, and NO, we are not having cake today. Apparently I should just bring in my own cake, because even though I told them that I kept it a secret because I did NOT want cake, they simply replied...."But WE want cake!"

O dear. haha

So Happy 25th Birthday to me!

Here's to hoping the next quarter-of-a-century is just as memorable :)

An Apology

Don't you just love when your dear husband brings out his Human Resources knowledge and uses it against you? Oh, is that just mine?! I guess so!

He so kindly pointed out last night that the last thing I should be doing is venting about work on my blog, because I could easily be fired over it. Well, on my defense, I'm not 'friends' with any of my coworkers on Facebook, so other than that, I don't think they would have any way of even knowing I have a blog.

But secondly, I should state, for the record, that my job really isn't so bad. Yeah, I have my bad days, but who doesn't?! I really try not to take my job for granted, even on the worst days. I have good pay and great benefits, so what more could I really ask for?! Especially when this time, last year, I was on a job hunt that seemed hopeless. Period. And then add the crappy economy on top of that. So consider me extremely thankful for the job I hold today.

So thank you, Westinghouse, for all the good days, and even the bad. Here's to many more happy years together :)

Finance Conference

Today has been a catch-up day at work since I've been gone all week at our Global Finance Conference at Lakeview Resort in Morgantown, WV. I was reluctant about attending the conference ever since I began helping to plan it almost 3 months ago. I really didn't want to go, I was reserved about not knowing anyone, being the youngest attendee there (since most of the invited attendees were managers, controllers, etc.) and just hoped that I could manage to mingle enough to survive. All in all, the conference went really well, and I even enjoyed myself for the most part :) (I guess the free Pedicure didn't hurt!). I hope to get some good feedback from people, but me and the other 2 ladies that planned it have already been voted to be the "conference planners" again next year...so we must've done something right!

I was excited to finally meet a lot of the people that I already correspond with. It always nice to put a face to a name. And it was great to meet some of our Global Controllers from all over the world, a few from Sweden, Japan, China, Germany, Spain, etc. Too bad our dept. won't allow us to plan the Conference in Europe next year :P Now THAT would be awesome, ha.

Anyways, I got home yesterday afternoon after a nasty drive in the pouring down rain, unpacked, did my laundry, and packed again (3rd time in the past 2 weeks! *sigh*) for camping this weekend with a few friends. So far, it looks like no chance of rain all weekend, and beautiful autumn weather!! I love Fall! It's certainly the best time to go camping :) Especially when it cools down at night, and we can hover around a nice campfire, and then snuggle into a sleeping bag. Ah...I'm so excited. Even though I'm not looking forward to another long car ride, it'll still be worth it.

Crazy Week

This past weekend/week at work have been absolutely crazy! I haven't even HAD time to surf the web in the past week...how DID I survive?! ha...

I've been wanting to update everyone on my weekend at VA Beach with mom and the girls, but alas, this is the first time I've been on here for quite some time. Anyways, I had a great time. Sorry, I don't have any pics to share. I've gotten so lazy when it comes to taking pictures. I was a little hesitant about going on the trip, it seemed like such a far drive for only 4 days, but in the end, it was worth it. I enjoyed just chilling by the pool (that did NOT have an ocean view....boo), getting some sun (but not too much, I LOVE my new HUGE beach hat :) :) :), and enjoying the great weather we lucked out on (boo-boo-pa-too to you Hurricane Earl)(HA! you just wait, my new phrase is going to catch on soon to everything!). And now I'm extrememly thankful I got some relaxation time in before this crazy work week had begun.

I've been helping plan a Finance Conference at Lakeview Resort in Morgantown, West Virginia since June, and it's coming up next week!!! So last minute details have been taking over my life at work, hence the reason my week has been so hectic. I even SKIPPED my lunch yesterday, eek! As much as I've been enjoying being an "event planner" for this conference, I think it's earned me a few gray hairs. The conference is next week, Monday through Thursday, which I will also be attending to make sure it all runs smoothly. Let's just say, I hope the week goes by fast. I am not one to mingle. Or make new friends. No thanks. I actually enjoy silence, thank-you-very-much. So for me to have to mingle with about 70+ people I've never met (even a few from out of the country....did I mention how AWFUL I am with accents?!?!?), will certainly be a challenge.

Lastly, at least I will have a camping trip coming up the weekend after the conference that will surely get me through the week. I can't wait to see all my friends :) And surely Ross will miss me after I'm gone for 4 days?! ...*ahem*....maybe. Did I mention how much he enjoyed me being gone over Labor Day weekend?! just kidding. Although it WAS nice to have some time apart ....and even nicer to come home to a CLEAN apartment! *gasp*

My Typical Workday

Here's a little preview of what a typical workday looks like for me:

8:30 am: Get into work
8:45 am: Read through new emails
9:00 am: Asked to schedule various meetings w/ 15+ people throughout the end of the year
9:30 am: Send out meeting requests to people for various dates
10:00 am: Realize I scheduled the first mtg. during a weeklong conference that I am indeed attending, but completely forgot about
10:14 am: Re-send meeting request
10:15: Apologize to the 8 emails I received in all of 3 seconds reminding me about the conf. and why I would schedule a mtg. for such date
10:30: Dilemna solved, everyone likes the new date
10:40: Try scheduling another meeting
10:45: Realize there's not ONE SINGLE Conference room available in this entire HUMUNGOUS building during my time slot
10:50: search for new time & date
11:00: Finally find a conf. room I can use
11:05 ADHD kicks in, and I stare at the Facilities guys removing ceiling tiles above my head, to feed a wire down to the other end of the building
11:10: still watching, la dee da
11:20: what is that white foamey stuff in the ceiling?? dust or fire-proof preventatives?? hmm...
11:30: Where did the Facilities guys go, the ceiling tiles are still outta wack
11:45: lunch lunch lunch, food food, num num num...
12:00: Go to lunch w/ Mom since she's shopping in Cranberry today :)
1:00: attempt to work while counting down the hours to my weekend!

yup, a day in the life of me is never boring. Unless it's yesterday, now THAT was a boring day...