When I grow up...

What do I want to be when I grow up??? That’s a question I’ve been asking myself since I was about 4 years old! When I was a kid I always wanted to be a veterinarian (since I’ve always LOVED animals). Well…when I was about 10 I realized that you actually would have to deal with blood, vomit, and worst of all putting animals down. I decided that was definitely not the career path for me! I decided to just have pets when I grew up...now, with two dogs and two cats, I think I’ve definitely achieved that!

Going through high school I briefly wanted to be a flight attendant, but then read that most airlines don’t like to employ flight attendants taller than 5’9”. Being almost 6” I realized that was out! After flying on the small Embraer planes with Delta and American, I am glad about that! I can’t even stand up straight on those planes!

When I got to Ohio University, I majored in Communications with a Business (Human Resources) minor. When I got close to graduating I decided to try and find a job as a recruiter. For me, it seemed that every HR related job required ‘X’ years of experience. Hmm….I just graduated college; I have exactly 0 years experience! So, I took a job with Enterprise Rent-A-Car in their “Management Trainee” program (whom I had interned with the summer between my junior and senior year of college). I started full time in Baltimore, MD and lived with my best friend Danielle. After working there for a few months, I realized that this was definitely NOT the career path I wanted to take! To put it in perspective, this was a typical day: wake up and get into work between 7 and 7:30 (offices opened at 8), spend the day picking up grouchy people from body shops and dealerships, get your butt chewed out by at least 5 customers a day, and then get chewed out by your manager about not selling enough damage waiver (aka: car rental insurance coverage), leave work at about 7PM and do it all over again the next day. It was an exhausting job, but I managed to stick it out in Baltimore and Columbus for almost four years overall. (Kevin and I met there, so it wasn’t all bad!)

When I left there, I had gotten a job with BMW Financial Services as a Learning and Development Coordinator. I had finally gotten a contract job in an HR field (albeit training…but it was close enough for me!) At first it took a whole lot of getting used to. I was working shorter hours, and was in a typical office setting. I think I would have loved that job from the beginning, but there was one girl I worked with who was a total know-it-all “biz-natch” that made me dread going to work. Once she left (was canned) I LOVED it. I got to coordinate all the internal training sessions, helped set up and implement the training database, and scheduled employees for internal and external training. To this day, it was the best job I’ve ever had. Unfortunately, since it was a contract job, they really didn’t like you to stay in the same position for more than a year. After 7 months, my managers started pushing me to apply to get hired on full time with BMW. The bad part about this was the fact that all entry level full-time jobs were in the call center. I KNEW taking a call center job was going to be horrible, but if I could stick it out for a year, they told me to start applying for jobs in different departments. Unfortunately, I couldn’t stick it out for a year. I hated it so much I interviewed for another job about two weeks after I started. I got hired at L-3 (my current employer) about 8 months later as an Engineering Aide / Project Coordinator.

I have been at L-3 for almost 4½ years now. I like aspects of my job, and I dislike a lot too. It’s ok, just not what I envisioned myself doing (ever). When I was in school, my dad wanted me to major in MIS or IT, and I told him that I didn’t want to be sitting behind a computer in a cubicle 5 days a week. Welcome to my reality!

I know I would love to get into full-time event planning (wedding / corporate events) because I love doing that kind of stuff, and it’s something I know I have a knack for. This is the fourth year I have been on the Employee Appreciation team at L-3, and I love doing that. I get to plan all the outside events for our office…and it’s a lot of fun! I know in order to be truly happy, I would have to bite the bullet and actually start a business of my own. It’s been something I’ve been talking about forever, so here’s hoping I actually get the courage to do it someday! So, yes, I actually do know what I want to do when I grow up…maybe putting it out here will give me the push I need to start!

Happy 4th of July!

What a fun Fourth we've had!  We've definitely kept ourselves busy.

Friday Kevin and I went shopping and had a drink over at Easton Towne Center!  Instead of going downtown and fighting the crazy traffic home, we decided to have dinner at home and enjoy some flag cake. :)  (I make it every year!)

Saturday we went to the Columbus Crew game with our friends Brandon and Lexi for Red, White, and Crew!  We had a great time and saw some great fireworks.  It helped that they won too! :)  GO CREW!

On the 4th, we woke up to a swollen doggy.  Mullen had either eaten a spider or got stung by a bee and her whole jaw swelled up.  So, we made our way over to the emergency vet for some shots and Benedryl.  I'm happy to report she is back to normal today! 

My Poor Girl :(

After hanging with the puppies, Mullen was feeling better so we finally went to go see Toy Story 3 in 3D.  It was fantastic!  We ended the night with dinner at a Japanese Steak House and viewing the Delaware fireworks from our front yard! 

What a great weekend.  Happy Birthday America!