One Step Closer to Graduation

For those of you who read my last post about my presentation jitters (hey Lex!) you'll know that I completed the final piece of my summer internship last Thursday.  I found out my grade earlier this week (B+ I'll take it!) and am now officially 9 credits away from graduation in December!

I didn't blog much at all about my internship really so here's a recap of what I learned this summer from my internship.

Don't intern at the company you work for regularly UNLESS the company has an actual internship program and/or the "internship" is better planned by management.  I found out the hard way that taking an internship making an internship out of convenience doesn't always result in the greatest learning experience and can lead to frustration with employees of the company that you WILL see again on a daily basis.

I'm really good a following step-by-step directions and as a result can catch on quickly.  No joke I had a co-worker tell me this to my face like it was a compliment.  I bit my tongue and held back the "no shit thanks.  Any chimp can do this!" and smiled and said thank you. Of course I went home and vented to my mom who sympathized with me so that I could come back the next day and try not to be a B to the woman who said this to me.

I like to feel included in the group and not forgotten.  I'm pretty sure a lot of people would agree with me on this one.  Referring back to not interning at the company you regularly work for - it was because I did this that it was easy for the department I was interning with to not worry about me being downstairs away from their group and forgot to let me know about department lunches (missed 2 of them) and fun food days like Dilly Bars from DQ.  I also had an employee (same one that thinks I'm awesomely as smart as a chimp) tell me to my face they forgot about me.  Yeah.  Awesome right?

Procrastination is my middle name.  Nothing really new here.  I knew this going in, thought about how I should avoid procrastinating on putting together the materials to hand in and the presentation I had to give, and discovered once again that I truly dislike feeling unprepared and could avoid it all if I didn't love to procrastinate like it's my job.

It might sound like I'm ungrateful that the company I work for allowed me to complete my internship with them this summer based on all the complaining I just did but trust me I'm not!  It was because I wanted to be able to go back to my awesome flexible job that I wanted to intern at the company during the summer.  Let's face it, it would have been awkward to intern outside the company and then say "oh by the way can I come back Sept-Dec so I can work awesome flexible hours until I graduate and find a different job?"  They jumped at the chance to help me in any way that they could to get me the 3 credits for the internship.  Hindsight is always 20/20...I know now what to ask for/make sure I get if I ever had to do this experience over again.

And did the department I intern for provide me with everything I needed from them for my internship paperwork and materials to hand in at the end of the summer?  Yes!  Because of that Yes! I earned 3 credits toward graduating in December.  3 credits I'm not sure how I would have earned in time otherwise.  (I'm sure there would have been a way but my advisor made it sound differently so I went with it.)

So, overall was the summer internship a success?  Yeah, earning the credits I need (the MOST important part to me) definitely happened but learning about accounting, meh not so much.

Presentation Jitters

Hi friends!  It's been a while since I've posted, sorry about that!

Since my last post a month ago I've celebrated some birthdays (mom's and aunt's), gone on vacation to Chicagoland Speedway (this past weekend actually!), and cranked out a PowerPoint presentation in the last 48 hours that I will present tonight.

The PowerPoint presentation is about the internship I completed this summer.  Probably not my finest work I'm sure because I am procrastination at its finest.  Not only did I complete my internship at the end of August so I have had three weeks prior to this one to put together the presentation but I also wasted away a day at home to work on it by doing anything but! (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterst, TV, etc...)

I normally get nervous for presentations, even when I'm prepared in advance, so the fact that I waited until last night to actually make the PowerPoint has only added to my nervousness.  I had a hard time getting to sleep, it was past 2am when I finally did.  And then I woke up this morning and after making sure everything printed (it hadn't) and running through my checklist of things I needed to have done I was already feeling sick.

I am at work today for 8 hours but I have two fifteen minute breaks and I'm sure I'll use some of my lunch break (30 minutes) to run through the presentation at my desk.  But we all know running through it in your head is totally different than actually having practiced what you're going to say out loud.  I can't change the past so I'm going to have to run with what I've got and hope for the best.

Wish me luck friends!!

Questions for you...
Do you get nervous when you need to speak in front of a group?  How do you handle the nervousness?  Any tips for me?

Do you procrastinate or are you on top of your game with things you need to do?  Any tips from former procrastinators on how to procrastinate less?

Catching Up

Happy Friday readers!!  This week seemed to fly by for me which this summer has been an unusual thing to happen.  It's been over a week since my last blog post but Wednesday through Sunday I was in the land of minimal cell phone reception, no WiFi, and honestly hanging out with friends, enjoying some beverages, and seeing country music artists perform took more importance over updating my blog.  I had a blast with Chelsea and some other friends that I met up with there.  I took hardly any pictures so doing a recap would be kind of boring so I'll skip that and just let you know I had a blast.

Thanks to the craziness that was last week this week has been catch up for me.  I'm still not on a great sleep schedule.  Sunday through Tuesday every night I was waking up between 2 and 3 am which is not a normal thing for me.  I guess my body adjusted to the late night bed times and was trying to tell me I was trying to sleep too early?  I've been able to make it to work on time this week though so I'd say I'm handling it pretty well.

Oh!  I just remembered that I took my business law final (online summer course that started July 16th) on Wednesday last week and found out Friday night (I think?) that I got an A- in the class!!!  Now the only thing left to do to finish up my summer semester is prepare and present my internship presentation on either the 20th or 21st of September.  It has to be 10 minutes long which is a bit daunting to me because I'm not a great public speaker.  I haven't begun working on it yet so I need to really get the ball rolling on that one if I want to prepare it ahead of time and be able to practice it and get the timing right on it.

The only thing I'm bummed about because of not blogging since last Tuesday is that I missed two Weight Loss Wednesday posts that I was supposed to do.  It's a double edged sword with that one.  I haven't been focusing on weight loss at all, like haven't even stepped on a scale in I don't know how long, so what would I really be able to post about anyways?  But at the same time I committed to posting about it once a week (that's not that hard) and now I haven't followed through.  There's always next week though!

So that's a quick recap of what's been going on with me in the last week and a half.

Tonight I'm going out to dinner with my parents, another couple, our neighbor, and another woman so I won't be home much.  I WILL be getting laundry started though as I haven't done that since the weekend before last so I'm running out of clean clothes to wear which is not a good thing.  Tomorrow I need to set up for Chelsea's bridal shower, attend the shower, and then the bachelorette party later that evening which we are doing a wine tasting, dinner, and then drinks.  I bought a dress yesterday for the day so I will be sure to post pictures once I'm all done up and ready for the day.  Sunday my mom is hosting a Miche bag party so I will have that to go to in the early afternoon but other than that Sunday is my relaxed day.  It will feel good to finally sit still and get caught up on everything (laundry, blogging, etc...)

I hope everyone has been having a great week!  Hope to see you leave some comments now that I'm getting back into the swing of things.

Liebster Blog Award

Thanks Laurie at Love, Laugh, Laurie for nominating me for the Liebster Award.

Thanks Laurie!!  The rules are simple:  Tell 11 facts about yourself, answer the questions posed by person who nominated you, make up 11 questions of your own, and nominate 11 people.

11 Facts:

1. I am a bridesmaid in my best friend Chelsea's upcoming wedding on September 30th.  We are wearing brown "slouchy" cowboy boots with short red dresses.
2. September 14th through the 17th I will be in Joliet, IL at Chicagoland Speedway for my 4th NASCAR race where I will be able to meet my favorite driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. (!!!)
3. I was a member of 4-H and showed dairy cattle at the Wisconsin Valley Fair for 4 years.
4. I drink raw cow's milk 99% of the time.  Rarely will I drink milk from a store.
5. I needed to have a baby tooth pulled when I was 18 in order to have an implant put in because I lacked an adult tooth.  I also do not have wisdom teeth, or my bottom 12-year-old molars.
6.  I am completing a summer internship for 3 credits that will allow me to graduate in December of 2012 (4 months!!).
7.  I played softball from 2004 until 2009 (I think).  I ended my high school softball career as the starting varsity pitcher.
8.  I am an animal lover.  I am both a dog and cat person as well as other furry animals.
9.  I got to look at puppies on my 21st birthday (2011).  It was also the day that we picked Bo out from a litter of 9.
10.  I absolutely love my Kindle that I received as a birthday gift from my parents for my 21st birthday.  I have over 100 items in my "read" folder since receiving it just over a year ago.  I love to read period though so I still read actual books in addition to what I download to my Kindle.
11.  This was hard for me to do!  I want the facts to be interesting but struggle to come up with what I think people would find interesting.  Maybe I need to do some more reflecting on myself so the next time I need to come up with facts about myself it won't be so hard to do?

Laurie's questions to me:

1. What is your favorite Olympic event to watch? I enjoy watching gymnastics and swimming.  Prior to this year's summer Olympics I LOVED to watch softball but as many of you know they removed softball from the summer Olympics.  Don't even get me started on the "sports" that are part of the Olympics instead of softball.

2. What event would you participate in if you had unlimited talent?  If softball were still an option I would definitely want to be a Team USA softball team member.  Of the current events I think I would participate in gymnastics, swimming, or diving.

3. What is your favorite quote?   I have two favorite quotes.  "Don't be afraid to go after what you want to do, and what you want to be.  But don't be afraid to be willing to pay the price." ~ Lane Frost (10/12/63 - 7/30/89) and "You've got to really want it all the way to the end... If you runt oo hard you lose interest or you lose focus and you've had enough before it's over.  You've got to pace yourself so that the entire season is just as important from start to finish." ~ Dale Earnhardt Jr.

4. What is your favorite way to work out?  With someone!  Chelsea and I were working out regularly together during the Spring semester.  It was great to have someone to hold me accountable to getting to the gym and someone to talk to while working out.

5. Have you seen The Dark Knight Rises, and is it not the best movie ever?  <– I really want to know if you feel this way  I have not seen the movie.  Fun fact though, Dale Jr. won his first race in 4 years with a paint scheme with The Dark Knight Rises on his car.

6. Best movie you’ve seen recently?  This Means War is at the top of my list.  It has some great lines in it and it was enjoyable beginning to end.

7. What is your favorite memory?  I have a few but I'm going to go with helping my softball team in high school win its first game in over 2 years by hitting a triple but being awarded home plate because the opposing team threw the ball into the 3rd base line dugout.

8. What are you currently reading?  Pretty Little Liars, book #1 in the series.  The ABC Family show is based on the books by Sara Shepard.

9. If you are married, what were your wedding colors, and if you aren’t — what colors do you think they will be?  I imagine my wedding colors would include red as it is my favorite color.  Possibly other fall colors.  Haven't really thought much about it.

10. Favorite movie trilogy?  Honestly, I don't think I have a favorite movie trilogy.  I can't seem to think of any movies I've seen that are a trilogy.  Is that bad?  I am looking forward to the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy being made into movies even though I was kind of disappointed with the ending of the books.

11. Favorite beverage?  Mountain Dew - it's a tough habit to kick!  If we're talking alcoholic beverages I would say Cherry Dr. + Mountain Dew, aka Dr. Dew.

11 Questions for the Nominees:

1. Favorite food?

2. How long have you been blogging?

3. Favorite hobby?

4. What is one book that you would recommend someone to read right now?

5. Right or left handed?

6. Favorite place?

7. One place you would like to visit in your lifetime?

8. Biggest pet peeve?

9. Favorite month and why?

10. Current favorite movie?

11.  Current favorite song?

Now, I nominate:

Lex @ Life by Lexis

Becca @ I Heart Eggs

Hollie @ Fueled by Lolz

Claire @ Navigating North

Nikki @ Antos Does Life

Tessa @ Amazing Asset

Alyssa @ Life of Blyss

Amy @ Life as a Lazy Girl

Rather than forcing another 3 nominees out I'm just going to stop at 8.  I would rather have 8 good ones than 8 good ones and 3 not so good ones (because I don't follow their blogs regularly).

Liebster Blog Award

Thanks Laurie at Love, Laugh, Laurie for nominating me for the Liebster Award.

Thanks Laurie!!  The rules are simple:  Tell 11 facts about yourself, answer the questions posed by person who nominated you, make up 11 questions of your own, and nominate 11 people.

11 Facts:

1. I am a bridesmaid in my best friend Chelsea's upcoming wedding on September 30th.  We are wearing brown "slouchy" cowboy boots with short red dresses.
2. September 14th through the 17th I will be in Joliet, IL at Chicagoland Speedway for my 4th NASCAR race where I will be able to meet my favorite driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. (!!!)
3. I was a member of 4-H and showed dairy cattle at the Wisconsin Valley Fair for 4 years.
4. I drink raw cow's milk 99% of the time.  Rarely will I drink milk from a store.
5. I needed to have a baby tooth pulled when I was 18 in order to have an implant put in because I lacked an adult tooth.  I also do not have wisdom teeth, or my bottom 12-year-old molars.
6.  I am completing a summer internship for 3 credits that will allow me to graduate in December of 2012 (4 months!!).
7.  I played softball from 2004 until 2009 (I think).  I ended my high school softball career as the starting varsity pitcher.
8.  I am an animal lover.  I am both a dog and cat person as well as other furry animals.
9.  I got to look at puppies on my 21st birthday (2011).  It was also the day that we picked Bo out from a litter of 9.
10.  I absolutely love my Kindle that I received as a birthday gift from my parents for my 21st birthday.  I have over 100 items in my "read" folder since receiving it just over a year ago.  I love to read period though so I still read actual books in addition to what I download to my Kindle.
11.  This was hard for me to do!  I want the facts to be interesting but struggle to come up with what I think people would find interesting.  Maybe I need to do some more reflecting on myself so the next time I need to come up with facts about myself it won't be so hard to do?

Laurie's questions to me:

1. What is your favorite Olympic event to watch? I enjoy watching gymnastics and swimming.  Prior to this year's summer Olympics I LOVED to watch softball but as many of you know they removed softball from the summer Olympics.  Don't even get me started on the "sports" that are part of the Olympics instead of softball.

2. What event would you participate in if you had unlimited talent?  If softball were still an option I would definitely want to be a Team USA softball team member.  Of the current events I think I would participate in gymnastics, swimming, or diving.

3. What is your favorite quote?   I have two favorite quotes.  "Don't be afraid to go after what you want to do, and what you want to be.  But don't be afraid to be willing to pay the price." ~ Lane Frost (10/12/63 - 7/30/89) and "You've got to really want it all the way to the end... If you runt oo hard you lose interest or you lose focus and you've had enough before it's over.  You've got to pace yourself so that the entire season is just as important from start to finish." ~ Dale Earnhardt Jr.

4. What is your favorite way to work out?  With someone!  Chelsea and I were working out regularly together during the Spring semester.  It was great to have someone to hold me accountable to getting to the gym and someone to talk to while working out.

5. Have you seen The Dark Knight Rises, and is it not the best movie ever?  <– I really want to know if you feel this way  I have not seen the movie.  Fun fact though, Dale Jr. won his first race in 4 years with a paint scheme with The Dark Knight Rises on his car.

6. Best movie you’ve seen recently?  This Means War is at the top of my list.  It has some great lines in it and it was enjoyable beginning to end.

7. What is your favorite memory?  I have a few but I'm going to go with helping my softball team in high school win its first game in over 2 years by hitting a triple but being awarded home plate because the opposing team threw the ball into the 3rd base line dugout.

8. What are you currently reading?  Pretty Little Liars, book #1 in the series.  The ABC Family show is based on the books by Sara Shepard.

9. If you are married, what were your wedding colors, and if you aren’t — what colors do you think they will be?  I imagine my wedding colors would include red as it is my favorite color.  Possibly other fall colors.  Haven't really thought much about it.

10. Favorite movie trilogy?  Honestly, I don't think I have a favorite movie trilogy.  I can't seem to think of any movies I've seen that are a trilogy.  Is that bad?  I am looking forward to the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy being made into movies even though I was kind of disappointed with the ending of the books.

11. Favorite beverage?  Mountain Dew - it's a tough habit to kick!  If we're talking alcoholic beverages I would say Cherry Dr. + Mountain Dew, aka Dr. Dew.

11 Questions for the Nominees:

1. Favorite food?

2. How long have you been blogging?

3. Favorite hobby?

4. What is one book that you would recommend someone to read right now?

5. Right or left handed?

6. Favorite place?

7. One place you would like to visit in your lifetime?

8. Biggest pet peeve?

9. Favorite month and why?

10. Current favorite movie?

11.  Current favorite song?

Now, I nominate:

Lex @ Life by Lexis

Becca @ I Heart Eggs

Hollie @ Fueled by Lolz

Claire @ Navigating North

Nikki @ Antos Does Life

Tessa @ Amazing Asset

Alyssa @ Life of Blyss

Amy @ Life as a Lazy Girl

Rather than forcing another 3 nominees out I'm just going to stop at 8.  I would rather have 8 good ones than 8 good ones and 3 not so good ones (because I don't follow their blogs regularly).

Weekend Recap - Part 2

Happy Monday morning readers!  Is there such a thing as a happy Monday morning??  Guess it depends on what you have going on for the day and how you look at things.  Today I'm going to finish off my weekend recap with what I did yesterday.  This post has pictures so hopefully it won't be as boring to read!

Sunday

I woke up at 8am but stayed in bed watching NCIS season 4 until 9am, enjoying a lazy Sunday morning.  Muffins were on the table by that time so I ate (alone because everyone else ate earlier) then spent some time with Bo before jumping in the shower.  My parents and I went to Green Bay to eat at Red Lobster (soooo good!!), and do a little shopping.

Our first stop after lunch was Lambeau Field to look around in the Packers Pro Shop.  I finally for the first time in years have a piece of Packers clothing that is my own!  Thanks mom :)  It's a long sleeved, but light, t shirt with a hood.  I can't wait to wear it so hopefully it cools off soon!

I was in the market for some shoes I could wear on an every day basis so I can keep the shoes I use to work out in nice so DSW was our next stop.  My old fitness/everyday shoes are pretty beat up so I was happy to find some shoes in a women's size that fit and I liked.  Having big feet is a challenge when it comes to finding shoes that look good on them.

I also had a $10 off coupon for American Eagle but was disappointed when I didn't find anything I liked, especially because the jeans were on sale.  I have until the end of September to use the coupon so I might look online to see what I can find.

We hit up Yankee Candle even though the store in our own mall is bigger than this one.  I bought myself a candle in my favorite scent, Pumpkin Buttercream.  We had fun smelling the "man scents" and making my dad smell them.  He's not into candles like I am but he was a good sport and went along with it.  It was actually amazing how much some of the stuff smelled like what it was named after; 2x4, mowed grass, etc.

Once we walked around the mall and didn't find any other stores to go into we jumped in the car to do a little driving around.  We ended up finding a Dairy Queen and stopped for ice cream.  I had the blizzard of the month, M&Ms Brownie.  It was good but I couldn't finish it all.  Those brownie pieces filled me up more than my usual cookie dough does.

Our last stop was Wal-Mart.  Great place to go while you're out of town when you have one where you live, right?  We needed new shower liners and as I was getting ready in the morning I had found a $40 gift card from my boss at work from Christmas that I hadn't used yet.  I went in hoping to find Gossip Girl season 4 on DVD but sadly they didn't have any of the Gossip Girl seasons.  I walked out with just some Post-it stickies.  Thanks again mom!

After getting home I fired up the laptop to look online for Gossip Girl season 4.  I found it for only $14.95!  I ordered it along with books #8 and #9 in the Pretty Little Liars series, all for less than $40 so my gift card covered everything.  Successful online shopping makes me happy.


Because I ordered books #8 and #9 in the series I started reading Pretty Little Liars (#1) after dinner.  I've read books #1 through #6 once already but it's been a while so I wanted to get them all fresh in my mind again and try to read them back to back.  I own book #7 but have not read it yet.  Chelsea has been borrowing the books and powering through them and is almost to book #7 so finding the gift card for Wal-Mart came at the right time for me to order the next two books.  There are 12 books total in the series.

Reading before bed has always been something I enjoy doing but NCIS was calling to me so I ended the night with Gibbs, Tony, Zeva, McGee, and Abby instead of more reading.  Maybe not the smartest move considering NCIS can be action packed and make you think but oh well you only live once, right? :)


Questions for you...
Ever read books that a TV series is based on, like Pretty Little Liars?


Do you ever buy TV series on DVD?

Weekend Recap - Part 2

Happy Monday morning readers!  Is there such a thing as a happy Monday morning??  Guess it depends on what you have going on for the day and how you look at things.  Today I'm going to finish off my weekend recap with what I did yesterday.  This post has pictures so hopefully it won't be as boring to read!

Sunday

I woke up at 8am but stayed in bed watching NCIS season 4 until 9am, enjoying a lazy Sunday morning.  Muffins were on the table by that time so I ate (alone because everyone else ate earlier) then spent some time with Bo before jumping in the shower.  My parents and I went to Green Bay to eat at Red Lobster (soooo good!!), and do a little shopping.

Our first stop after lunch was Lambeau Field to look around in the Packers Pro Shop.  I finally for the first time in years have a piece of Packers clothing that is my own!  Thanks mom :)  It's a long sleeved, but light, t shirt with a hood.  I can't wait to wear it so hopefully it cools off soon!

I was in the market for some shoes I could wear on an every day basis so I can keep the shoes I use to work out in nice so DSW was our next stop.  My old fitness/everyday shoes are pretty beat up so I was happy to find some shoes in a women's size that fit and I liked.  Having big feet is a challenge when it comes to finding shoes that look good on them.

I also had a $10 off coupon for American Eagle but was disappointed when I didn't find anything I liked, especially because the jeans were on sale.  I have until the end of September to use the coupon so I might look online to see what I can find.

We hit up Yankee Candle even though the store in our own mall is bigger than this one.  I bought myself a candle in my favorite scent, Pumpkin Buttercream.  We had fun smelling the "man scents" and making my dad smell them.  He's not into candles like I am but he was a good sport and went along with it.  It was actually amazing how much some of the stuff smelled like what it was named after; 2x4, mowed grass, etc.

Once we walked around the mall and didn't find any other stores to go into we jumped in the car to do a little driving around.  We ended up finding a Dairy Queen and stopped for ice cream.  I had the blizzard of the month, M&Ms Brownie.  It was good but I couldn't finish it all.  Those brownie pieces filled me up more than my usual cookie dough does.

Our last stop was Wal-Mart.  Great place to go while you're out of town when you have one where you live, right?  We needed new shower liners and as I was getting ready in the morning I had found a $40 gift card from my boss at work from Christmas that I hadn't used yet.  I went in hoping to find Gossip Girl season 4 on DVD but sadly they didn't have any of the Gossip Girl seasons.  I walked out with just some Post-it stickies.  Thanks again mom!

After getting home I fired up the laptop to look online for Gossip Girl season 4.  I found it for only $14.95!  I ordered it along with books #8 and #9 in the Pretty Little Liars series, all for less than $40 so my gift card covered everything.  Successful online shopping makes me happy.


Because I ordered books #8 and #9 in the series I started reading Pretty Little Liars (#1) after dinner.  I've read books #1 through #6 once already but it's been a while so I wanted to get them all fresh in my mind again and try to read them back to back.  I own book #7 but have not read it yet.  Chelsea has been borrowing the books and powering through them and is almost to book #7 so finding the gift card for Wal-Mart came at the right time for me to order the next two books.  There are 12 books total in the series.

Reading before bed has always been something I enjoy doing but NCIS was calling to me so I ended the night with Gibbs, Tony, Zeva, McGee, and Abby instead of more reading.  Maybe not the smartest move considering NCIS can be action packed and make you think but oh well you only live once, right? :)


Questions for you...
Ever read books that a TV series is based on, like Pretty Little Liars?


Do you ever buy TV series on DVD?