Happy New Year!

Well as with most diary attempts... I've gotten out of the habit of writing. Greg's fabulous blog has motivated me to update this thing, plus a LOT has happened since my last post!

I'm still working at Aerotek as a recruiter, so that has not changed much. I did have a mock sales interview a couple of weeks ago which was definitely an eye-opening experience for all the work I still have to do to get a promotion!

Since May I've been on a few trips, most notably to San Fransisco for vaca and to see the first house that I lived in. The trip was really an awesome experience, I truly learned that vacations CAN be done (and still be a blast) on a budget. We managed to fit Fisherman's Warf, Alcatraz, biking across the Golden Gate Bridge, a visit to wine country, AND a trip to see my house all into about 4 days. I also went to Atlantic City to see my friend Greg run a marathon and to visit Annita and her family yet again. We did a bit of casino hopping as well - much needed on any AC trip :o)

This New Years was a blast as well. This year I chose to drive down to Atlanta for a little Johnstone reunion. About 9 Red Bull and vodkas later we were all having the times of our lives. Live music, free drinks, and great friends are always the combination for a good time. Also met a nice guy named Mike Anderson and shared a drunken New Years kiss followed by a Facebook friendship!

I realize that this update is long overdue and far too brief, but it is bed time. Shout out to Greg and his upcoming Freedom 35. I really do wish you the best of luck <3

Video of Daisy

Introducing... my wonderful dog Daisy!



Isn't she just the cutest???

Blogging 2 Days In A Row!

I'm blogging again! What whaaaaat! I really don't have anything to say except that I did fan-friggin tastic at work today :) And that's pretty much it!

Big plans for Clemson this weekend... Swift Robinson plays at TDs and Jonathan is coming to visit! I'm pretty pumped. I seriously have nothing to say... sooo back to dancing with the stars!

I'm a slacker...

So clearly I have not been blogging as much as I should... for all those avid readers of my blog out there (haha funny joke) I promise that I will be better from now on. I would like to take this time to use the excuse "I just started a new job and in order to ball outrageous I must devote all of my free time to being incredibly successful... which has taken all of my energy and left none for blogging." That's my story and I'm stickin to it!

But seriously... I have been so insanely busy at work lately. I have already put one woman to work and I have FOUR MORE pending background who will start ASAP. I found a bilingual collections specialist today which I would liken to finding your own turd in a neighborhood septic tank - nearly impossible and pretty shitty. I just ran that last hysterical joke by my mother who gave me the "haaaaaan" courtesy neigh that she always does. For those of you that know her, you know what I mean. (Jen)

Shout out to Jen by the way - her blog is far superior than mine.

It's only 8:24 and I'm already yearning for bed... is that bad? I wish I had the energy and motivation to come home from work and go work out but I just don't. I am seriously worried that I'm going to get burnt out because I work such long hours. I just want to get all of my work done... you know it's bad when people are telling you that you HAVE TO leave... I was the last recruiter at work today. Kind of a wake up call.

Speaking of wake up calls - I rented my first hotel room all by myself last weekend! I went to my friends' wedding (James and Leslie) in Charleston and it was freakin awesome! The wedding was much smaller than Jen and John's, which I was not prepared for. Other than the Swift Robinson guys and their girlfriends, my friend Natasha (my date) and I were the only non-relatives that had been invited. I felt super special. The wedding was held at the Circular Church in Charleston and it was beautiful. Very simple - small bouquets, buffet style dinner, open bar with beer and wine (hurray) and lots of adults with children. Our table was clearly the most immature and drunk - which I have no problem with... The really nice thing about this being a small wedding was that i was actually able to spend some time with both Leslie and James - which is sometimes pretty difficult in large weddings. I haven't uploaded the pictures from the weekend yet so we will have to wait for those to appear on the blog. After the wedding we made an attempt to go to a gay bar across the street but everyone was clearly too drunk.... so I called us a taxi and Tasha, Ben, and I went back to our hotel room for a few more coctails. I just went to bed. Somehow I always end up making sure that everyone gets home alright... call it a blessing and a curse. The next morning I drove Ben back to his hotel where he had reserved a room with Sonny and Brittney, Eddie and Emily... and their room smelled like death so I didn't stay. All in all a great weekend :)

Daisy has recovered quite well from her surgery. I called the vet 2 weeks after she had her surgery to make an appt to have her stitches removed and those a-holes told me that they were closing early. So I took them out myself! Daisy just laid on her back as I pulled out the stitches as if it were some kind of treat. It reminded me of when she was a puppy how she had happily lapped up the hydrogen peroxide (as if it were a treat) when I had to make her vomit after eating a bunch of my medicine. My dog is so awesome. Right now she's sleeping and looks quite like Falcor the Luck Dragon from The Neverending Story. Again - my dog is awesome.

Ok.... this has become a novel. Signing off now! :) Hey Jen and John... I miss you!

Week 5 and going strong...

I have successfully made it through 4 weeks at work! Now that I'm in week 5 I'm off to the races as far as recruiting goes. I have put one woman to work (Shannon Morrow) at a company in Greenville called RBC and she starts on Monday - which she and I are both super super pumped about! I also submitted a guy named Dean Nix to RBC (in a different department) and he interviews tomorrow at 1:00! Cross your fingers that he gets the job :o) I feel really confident that he will get the job. Yesterday I went out to lunch with the DBO (Director of Business Operations) who is the big kahuna of the office. I have gone out to lunch with him once before but it was part of the interview process and incredibly nerve-racking. This lunch was much more laid back. I felt like he really valued what I was saying and was considering any suggestions that I might have made.

This week has been especially hectic already, and it's only Tuesday. My recruiting partner Jill got promoted into a sales role on Monday; I have probably made about 80 phone calls between yesterday and today; went out to lunch with the DBO yesterday and one of my recruiting partners and their contractors today; have already set 5 in-house interviews for tomorrow morning; and should probably be making a proactive list of contacts instead of blogging. I don't want to become a work-a-holic... but it seems as though I may be headed in that general direction.

On a personal note... I'm slightly upset with my cousin at this moment. Jennifer or Jonathan you can call me later and we can talk about this in detail. Long story short: She had committed to being my date for a wedding and backed out when something better came along... and it really hurt my feelings. When I confronted her about it she said that she might still be able to come with me to Charleston but would need to invite her boyfriend. Last time I checked... inviting a date to a wedding that you yourself are a date to is pretty inappropriate. It's mind boggling. But luckily I invited my great friend Natasha to come instead. She and I were fellow bartenders at Ruby Tuesday so it should be a great time.

Daisy got spayed!!! I'm not sure if I have written about that yet, but she was spayed Friday before last and is having her stitches removed this Friday. I thought there was going to be some sort of recovery period but my dog is built like a tank and within 2 days was running around the yard like normal. This past weekend Daisy and I went to Clemson as we do most weekends. This weekend was a blast like usual and on Saturday morning she BOLTED after a cat and chased it about 25 feet up a tree. It was friggin amazing. And all this from a dog that had her uterus removed a week before... craziness.

Well I am going to wrap this up because American Idol is on :o) Jen you better start commenting!

Good night xoxo

So accomplished!!!

I have been working at Aerotek for 3 weeks now and I'm finally really getting into the swing of things! I submitted my first 2 candidates for jobs last week... one backed out because she wanted $1/hour more than we could offer her (stupid hoe)... and the other candidate interviews on Monday! I have gotten such great feedback from my coworkers and account manager so I feel like I'm beginning to walk around with my chest stuck out :o)

With my first paycheck I gave my mom $150 towards bills and for letting me live with her rent-free. Then I bought myself a SUPER CUTE lime green, blue, and sky blue paisley cooler that's going to be perfect for picnics in the park and tailgating! I also got the top of the cooler monogrammed with my initials. (The top of the cooler is lime green and the letters are sky blue) I may or may not have also gone downtown a few beers once or twice...

With my second paycheck I got a new comforter for my bed which matches my curtains PERFECTLY. The colors are perfect and omygosh they just look like they were made for each other. I also got Daisy spayed... She's a year old now so maybe it was a little delayed - but better late than never. I have been nursing my poor baby back to health all day today. The incision is much smaller that I thought it would be and she is walking and running around just fine. I am trying to control how much running up and down stairs she does but there's only so much you can do to control a 1yr old 50lb excited pit bull pup that has been cooped up at the vet for 3 days.

Mom and I went to Lense Crafters today to order her new glasses. When we got there we found out that they had sold out of the frames that she picked out 2 weeks ago so we had to pick out another pair. I was so worried that it was going to take hours like the last 2 times we went to look at glasses. Luckily we were able to find another REALLY cute pair in only about an hour.

Now we're watching "Cake Boss" and I'm getting super distracted so I'll wrap this up. I hope that everyone out there is having a wonderful day :o)

Business Trip!

So I'm officially on my first business trip! I am currently sitting in my hotel room right now... on my L-shaped sofa, staring at my big flat screen TV, getting ready to go to sleep in my King sized bed :o) I won't be going on another business trip for a while so I'm really milking this for all it's worth. This trip marks the end of my second week at Aerotek. I have made a lot of the progress in these first two weeks. The first week I was was doing modules and all the boring and simple learning crap. This week I have really been on the phones, assigned to a req., and trying to fill a position. I still feel a little bit lost like I don't exactly know what's going on, but I'm sure that that will change soon.

When I got to Charlotte today around 9:30 I met with my recruiter lead, Brad Anderson. I introduced myself to the APS people in the office (APS stands for Aerotek Professional Services) and then Brad and I got down to business. We must have sat in that back office for about 4 hours just going over the recruiting process and the inns and outs of what makes Aerotek different. "Aerotek is financially the number one recruiting firm in the nation. We recruit everything from the $100K a year engineering positions to the $8 an hour data entry positions." - That was part of my "elavator speech." There is so much business jargon it's crazy... and I really learned that on this trip.

So after a really nice lunch and another few hours of training Brad and I went out for a couple of cocktails at a bar and grill down the road from my hotel. He and I chatted for a bit and finally talked about stuff other than Aerotek. After our couple of drinks he brought me to check in at my hotel... hence this blog post. I feel like a real live young professional :o)

American Idol just came on so I'm going to go watch it in HD on my big screen TV! Good night all!