Lone Wolf

There are dramatic changes going on within my office. My colleague has decided to take an account management position at the competitor. On one hand, I completely understand. She's been here for three years and it's time for a change. On the other hand, she's been an incredible source of information and soon, I'm going to be flying blind.

At the beginning of June, my other finance colleague jumped ship for the network team. She found a position with a job level change and subsequently a nice raise, which I've been told is the only way to get a good salary bump.

Since February, I have had some slow moments, which quickly changed when my first colleague left. I took over her responsibilities as well as ad-hoc project work. Now, with my other colleague leaving, we're about to figure out exactly how capable I am. I don't doubt that I can survive. I did make it through Darden after all. It will be quite different however, and I've become accustomed to my nice work schedule. Hopefully that doesn't change.

With a wedding to plan and my continual focus on the gym, the next couple months should prove interesting. And the balancing act will begin again. I'm going to miss my comrade as we've become more friends than strict colleagues. Any person who fills her shoes will start looking to me for advice... that's a scary thought.

Engaged!

I'm still in shock!

My birthday is tomorrow, so a few business school friends came to visit for the weekend in order to celebrate. Yesterday, the man and I had a doubleheader for soccer. The friends came just before halftime of the second game, camera in hand, to take a couple photos. After the game, I was convinced to walk to the middle of the field in order to snap a handful of photos of the man and me. I was tired, hot, sweaty and slightly confused. Next thing I knew, he was down on one knee, asking me to marry him. In shook, shaking a little, I said yes and gave him a kiss! The fans on the sideline started clapping and cheering (I didn't know any of them as most of my team had left). A perfect venue and time for a woman who defines a lot of herself based on the 20+ years of experience I've had on the pitch. There have been great moments and ones where injury has kept on the sideline. Regardless, soccer is still one of my favorite past times and over the last couple of years, I have shared the experience with my better half.

I never went to business school thinking I'd meet the love of my life. On the contrary, I was going to be focused - head down and studying as hard as I could in order to be successful in the future. While I was focused on my studies, I also met an incredible man and I couldn't be happier to soon call him my husband. Wow! As I write that, it even feels weird.

I keep staring at my hand. It makes me smile and feel different all at the same time. They say the engagement period is one of the happiest. I'm excited and yet know there will be plenty of questions and planning on the horizon. For now, I'm just going to enjoy the bliss of this moment.

New Town, New Friends

It's a never ending saga when you move from place to place. The moment you get comfortable, the bags get packed and you must start anew. There's something encouraging about having a support system where you don't have to explain your Idiosyncrasies. On the other hand, it's exciting to learn about new people and share yourself in a way that many of your childhood friends may not view you. Regardless, with each new transition, I, at times, find myself longing for old friends.

Chicago has been a different transition however. There are four of us (plus a spouse) who attended Darden together and hang out regularly. Thanks to knowing a couple of Darden 2009 graduates, I've branched out and joined a new soccer team. Even after multiple weeks on the pitch together, I still struggle to learn everyone's name. I'm getting better though. The girls have started including me in their invite lists and for that, I'm extremely appreciative. I missed the last one which included each lady bringing and consuming her own bottle of wine. sounds zealous and I have to imagine very entertaining. The team's fearsome leader threw a small soiree on Saturday night including mojitos, rum punch, a BBQ and delicious rainbow mini cupcakes. Everyone likes to be included and I feel like I'm finally meeting new people that could become more than acquaintances. I also received my transfer email from Junior League (6 months later.. it was about time). I'm looking forward to getting involved in the community and there's no better time than summer in Chicago!

Plus, with my new found support group and three friends coming to visit this weekend, this year's birthday should definitely be fun!

Consolidation

Have you ever seen that question on a survey that asks, "how many email accounts do you check on a regular basis?" I find myself replying with a slightly obscene number. There's the old email account that no one uses unless they only knew me when I was 15. There's the post old account that has become my main email address. There's the junk email account that is still checked because I suppose not everything that goes there is junk. There's the post-Darden account because I had to grow up and get an "adult" address. And finally, there's my work email address. Checking all the accounts never bothered me much. With smartphones, it's very simple to keep track, however, I've noticed something with my Droid lately that has been bothering me.

Two of my five email accounts use gmail. Both of those accounts flow famously to my Droid. Once upon a time, I downloaded the yahoo app for my Droid until that account stopped updating properly and I gave up the app for the preinstalled messaging app. Needless to say, the account now updates, however, I have to remember to click on the app for it to do so. It doesn't just notify me that I have messages, meaning when it does update, there's 20 notes to sift through. And then there is AOL - a lost cause that I'm more than ready to delete. I just need to figure out which of my parents is the actual account owner and get them to delete the account.

With all the email checking, I've decided it's time to consolidate email accounts. At the end, there will be 3 accounts standing. One work and two personal. What I find funny is the difficulty I've had simply changing my email address. I was overly impressed with Off5th. I clicked on their edit preferences link a the bottom of a recent message and it took me to a page where I could change the frequency of emails, unsubscribe, update my email address or change my store preferences. Brilliant! Most people assume that all you want to do is unsubscribe and so that is the only option available when clicking the little link at the bottom of the page. While I'm sure that's true most of the time, I was very impressed! The rest of these emails may simply get the boot if I can't easily switch them.