Happy Tuesday, Everyone!
I had the most perfect weekend in Columbus with Cory and his family. They are all the most wonderful human beings on the face of the earth and I am so thankful and blessed to know them. Special thank you to my sister Chloe for keeping me laughing all weekend. You're so pretty. Lylas more.
However, Andrea told me that she is tired of hearing about my perfect life and specifically requested that I write a blog filled with tips for high school graduates moving to college.
Just so everyone can understand that my life is not perfect, you should all know that someone urinated in my fitting room yesterday so..... that was awesome.
Now, without further adieu......
1. Always keep your liquor in a water bottle. But, don't forget that all of your water bottles in the refrigerator aren't actually water. Freshmen year I watched a girl in my dorm chug a water bottle after a long run. It wasn't water. The result wasn't pretty.
2. If there is any chance that you may have a hungover throw up session, do not go to class. I've seen too many people throw up on themselves, their desk, and their lab partner. Save yourself the embarrassment and remember to drink less next time.
3. Your undergrad major really doesn't have any effect on your life whatsoever. For some reason everyone's major is always the topic of conversation. Your future career either won't care about what your major was or will require you to continue your education.
4. Spend the extra two dollars for the better liquor is completely worth it. Your stomach will thank you later. Freshmen year I could drink vladamir vodka like a champion. Sophomore year, first day back, I puked on myself as I removed the shot glass from my face. Lessons learned.
5. If you enter a party with more than five people, everyone will immediately know that you are a freshmen. Take your stupid lanyard off of your neck. Everyone knows what college you go to (because they go there too) and you can keep your keys in your pocket or purse.
6. Find a friend to go to the gym with and MAKE each other go. The dreaded "freshmen 15" really does exist and most people will gain more weight than that. Running into your fellow high school classmates at your local grocery store will be the highlight of your Christmas break.
7. If you buy a single book at the bookstore, you're too dumb to be in college. I mean seriously. Get a book list early on and buy or rent your book from a website. Don't anticipate any cash pay out when selling your books back at the end of the semester. Your 18th Century World History book will somehow miraculously have a new addition printed between September and December; making your edition absolutely useless.
8. Take advantage of your first year of classes. They are a cake walk. When junior and senior years roll around, you'll kick yourself for getting a C in that jazz class or freshmen seminar. Ultimately, those freshmen classes count for the same number of credits as your biology class and advanced composition.
9. The cafeteria food will make you shit your pants for the first couple of weeks. Just go with the flow, your body will adapt. If there is a food store within walking distance, go there for fruits and vegetables regularly.
10. Smoking cigarettes doesn't make you look cool no matter how funny you think it is at the time. It will only ensure that no one will kiss you that night.
11. Popularity no longer exists. If you think you're in the popular crowd in college, go back to high school, you're lost.
12. There is always one person that feels the need to share their opinion about everything in class. If you look around and you can't figure out who that person is.... it's you. So, stop talking because no one else around you wants to hear you keep blabbing on and trying to make irrelevant connections. We call this person the Classhole.
I was only supposed to list ten but I couldn't stop writing. I hope everyone has a very productive week and I will speak with everyone soon.
Here's to heeding the aforementioned advice,
Xoxo
Happy Monday, everyone!
This post will be short and sweet.
I was blessed to spend another Father's Day with my dad yesterday, and I have never been more thankful for anything in my life. As some of you may know, my dad spent many years of his life in and out of hospitals and on and off of transplant waiting lists. This was in the past, of course. But, we must keep in mind that the past; both good and bad, have helped to shape us into the human beings that we are today.
Reflection is some of the best medicine for the human mind and spirit.
This photo of my father and I was taken in 2009. At this point, my father received his first liver transplant and his body rejected the organ. At the time of this photo, he was unable to be placed back on the transplant list due to the many health issues that plagued his life for years.
This photo is painful for me to look at. It reminds me of a very painful time for my father and everyone involved in his life.
However, this is an important element to remind myself and to show everyone just how far he has come.
After many years, and many medical miracles, my dad is the healthiest that he has been my entire life. Because of the struggles that he and our loved ones endured, we treat every single day on this earth as a gift.
Those few years were rough. Tragic. Heartbreaking. At times; hopeless.
But, they strengthened our bond as a family and they developed the way that I view the world.
To the right is a photo of dad and I cruising along the Allegheny River yesterday for our dad's day celebration. He's so perfect. He's so healthy.
The moral of the story is; celebrate every day. There is something to be thankful for, always. Sometimes, you just need to find it. In a world of competitions, evil, hate, deadlines and narcissism; break away and find comfort in simplicity. Often times, we overlook being thankful for the basics and take for granted the things that come to us so naturally: a bed to sleep in, clean water, the clothes on our backs, food to eat, a job, great health.
If you live in thanks, your entire world will be changed. Find the people that you are thankful for and tell them. They'd love to hear it.
I genuinely hope that everyone has a great week. Until next time,
Here's to celebrating every aspect of this beautiful life <3
Xoxo
Happy Monday morning! <3
Before I get to this week's blog topic, I would like to address a situation that Megan and I were unfortunate enough to witness last week while on our lunch break. The two of us decided to go to my favorite place on earth (Aladdin's) for lunch and while we were there we were inadvertently forced to listen to a woman at a table next to us talking very loudly and proudly about breastfeeding. I mean, that's great for her. It's great that she had a baby, she seemed to be very happy. I appreciate happiness. If you know me, you know that's true. But, perhaps she could have talked to her friends about the milking process at a time and place where other people around her weren't trying to indulge in a meal.
Before lunch, I knew nothing about breastfeeding. In fact, besides the time that I accidentally walked into my cousin's bedroom while she had a breast pump on each nipple, I've never revisited the logistics of the feeding process. Now, I am practically a breastfeeding connoisseur. I even know about the milk drying up process when you stop breastfeeding. From what I understand from Betty breast-feeder, the drying process much resembles how the ground hardens after many consecutive, hot summer days with no rain. Allegedly, it's painful.
The point is, be aware of your surroundings. I certainly did not want to hear about her breast milk and all that goes along with it, and I am certain; based on my observations, that the others in the restaurant felt the same as me.
Last week, we had a ton of excitement at work! PJ got promoted out of Robinson Hco to be a DM in Buffalo, NY. Allison from Monroeville AnF was promoted to Robinson Hco, and my wonderful assistant manager and very good friend Keela was promoted from our store to be the SM at Monroeville AnF. Each one of you are absolutely awesome and I am so happy for you guys and your recent accomplishments! I am thankful that I was able to be apart of your promotion days!
Last week, when I first discovered that Keela was getting promoted, it was definitely one of the top 5 best moments of my life. The happiness that I felt was absolutely amazing. I kept her promotion a secret for two days; setting a record for the longest period of time that I have ever kept a secret.
There is something to be said about the bond that is formed between a group of people working together to accomplish a common goal. There is something to be said about agreeing on expectations, setting goals, formulating plans, crushing the goals, setting higher expectations, and so on and so forth. I am eternally grateful for every person that works in my store and I am looking forward to witnessing, firsthand, the success of your careers.
For the past five months, I have worked with an absolutely amazing team. We work our butts off every single day. And because we do, we can celebrate moments like Keela's promotion and we understand that every positive being exhibited from our store has been made possible by teamwork, not by individual efforts. You guys are phenomenal, and I am so glad to have each of you as a member of my team, but most importantly, as my friends. Good luck to you, Keela, as you begin your new journey and next step in your successful career.
What makes a successful career and drives a happy life? Let's talk it out, I've got a few tips.
Do something nice for a stranger. You don't have to pay their mortgage, just hold a door open for them, smile, ask how their day is... anything. Simple positive conversations occur so seldomly that they often baffle the person that you are speaking to. Sad, but true. Take my word for it.
Make a personal goal to teach something to someone each day. In the workplace, this is an incredibly valuable expectation.
Talk to others as one human being to another human being; job titles and superiority set aside. When respect is given, respect is earned. So, ditch the condescending tone and idea that you know more than everyone around you. If you really do know more than everyone around you; reevaluate.
Smile. Life is so much better when you smile and when the people around you are happy as well.
Utilize failures as a learning experience. You cannot succeed without identifying where you went wrong when you fell short.
Acknowledge that your attitude directly impacts those around you. Positivity and negativity are both contagious. Your attitude is one of the very few elements of your life that you have full control over; choose wisely.
Stop thinking about yourself. This world doesn't revolve around you. Live by the notion that you were put on this earth to enrich the lives of others. Live this way for one day, and you will never go back to your old ways again.
Be thankful for each day. For every single task that you complete, be grateful. There are people out there that do not have the means or the skill to do the things that you continuously take for granted.
Find someone or something that inspires you and motivates you. Never let that go.
Step outside. If you don't see the potential that you have in this beautiful world, you aren't looking hard enough.
Until next week~
Here's to living in such a way that if someone spoke badly of you-- no one would believe it,
Xoxo
Good Monday morning to each one of you! May this be your most productive week yet!
Please accept my apology for my two week blog writing sabbatical. I promise to make it up to you by updating you on the hilarity that has been my life for the past 14 days. I have titled this blog post based on the following stories and how they began as ordinary occurrences but quickly escalated to strange situations.
Two weeks ago my friends and I went to the Hofbrauhaus with some of our new found Columbus friends. There were about 15-20 people in our group, half of which were eating dinner. Our waitress; Sophia, was a friendly and cute girl. I believe she may have been roughly 21-years-old. She was running around trying to keep up with our beer drinking and food ordering. It goes without saying that we were not the only table that Sophia had that evening.
At some point, we were approached by a man named Justin wearing a blue polo that readily identified himself as a manager. He told us that he would be helping Sophia out since she was a newer server and because it was a busy evening. Justin told us that he used to be a server before he became a manager and even made a joke about how "it has been a long time since he'd done this," when he clumsily juggled three Dunkels, accidentally spilling some of their contents onto the ground.
Besides his name, Justin seemed fine to me. Seemed. Past tense. At some point, he mentioned to our large party that he was "Sorry about Sophia" and that mentioned that she was overwhelmed. "She's doing a great job," I told him. "She's alright," he said, "she's a little weird but she's alright."
Way to go, Justin. You're officially a douche AND a terrible boss. How embarrassing for someone in a position of power to have something negative to say about one of his associates. I don't know what Justin meant when he called Sophia "weird." In fact, "weird" is a very relative term. Regardless, I am sure that whatever quality that Sophia has that Justin has deemed to be out of the ordinary does not prohibit her to carry beers to her tables at the Hofbrauhaus. If anyone knows Justin or Sophia, please send them the link to this blog.
I am thankful that I work in an environment where everyone understands that talking about others does not make you look any better, it only makes you look immature.
Speaking of work, on Friday, two 15-year-old boys entered my store roughly 30 minutes before it closed. These two kids are frequent flyers at my store and more importantly, they are frequent mess makers. They come in, destroy the store, and leave without ever purchasing an item. In fact, sometimes they do buy something, but before they leave, they come back up to the register to return the item. Talk about buyer's remorse. I digress. My team had done a great job maintaining the store on Friday and for the first time in months, I knew that I would be able to leave the store in a timely manner. That is, until these two showed up. After I watched them destroy one room, I let them know that I would walk around with them and that if they needed any item, I would get it out of the stack for them. They ignored me and I watched them destroy everything they touched, spray each other with fragrances that they hadn't purchased and bump into other customers while running around like idiots. Finally, I approached them and told them that they needed to leave. Seems fair, right?
Wrong.
This 15-year-old lost his mind on me. He called me a bitch and requested that I give him a customer service card. I handed him a card, and he asked what my name was. "Nicole," I said. Then, he grabbed a pen and as he wrote my name, he spelled it out loud, "N....I...C...H...."
"Actually, there is no H. It's N.I.C.O.L.E."
At this point, this little shit turns around and announces to everyone in line, "No one should shop here, Nicole is a bitch." He continued saying this to each person he passed on the way out. Initially, I thought it was funny but then I realized that I actually couldn't stand this kid. I legitimately hope he gets a cavity and that his parent's insurance plan doesn't cover Novocaine.
Finally, these two kids left the store and I called security. Unfortunately, these kids will have to buy their summer clothes at Target, because after their little tantrum, they aren't allowed in the mall anymore. Do they have the customer service card? Yes. Do they know how to use email or spell? More than likely they do not.
Sucks to suck.
Other things that escalated quickly:
Stood at my storefront last weekend and inadvertently caught a boy stealing a couple of polos. Talk about being in the right place at the right time.
Heidi and Juleah decided to start an online donation center for the March of Dimes the day before our charity walk and raised over 700 dollars in 24 hours.
My friends and I decided to go to the club last weekend and some drama instantly broke out resulting in a verbal altercation between some friends over absolutely nothing at all.
Last, but certainly not least, I met a genuine human being that has changed my perspective on my previous and long-standing belief that every man in the world (except for my dad) is out to make every girl's life a living hell. I am so thankful for your presence in my life. You have already enriched each day more than you know.
Now, time for work! I hope that everyone has a great Monday and I promise I will write next week!
Here's to exceeding all of life's expectations,
Xoxo
