get out the plow

The office is buzzing with pre-storm predictions this morning! Will it really be a "potentially historic and destructive winter storm" that "unleash its fury beginning Monday and will last through Wednesday"? There's definitely some skepticism among the Chicago life-ers, but I'm pretty sure there's no way around the fact that this radar picture means SNOW IS A COMIN'!

Lill-a-rama

Well, the good news about me not posting for almost 3 weeks is that now I can show you my purse from the last post, which I picked up today!

It's a little hard to tell, but the purple inner lining actually matches the strap. I guess I am second-guessing that strap decision a little bit, but Jenilee and I thought it would give it more character, so I guess mission accomplished! Anyway, I think I'll be able to use it a lot so I'm happy. Go Lill!

Lill-a-riffic

Brian gave me an awesome gift this Christmas that I think every girl will enjoy, so I'm going to share and make you jealous and/or majorly boost the sales of this store: a gift certificate to Lill.

This means nothing to non-Chicagoans and that's okay, it meant nothing to me until I started reading words like purse, design, fabric, sold! I guess this is a Chicago staple of sorts, but it should really be in every city in America...anyone with a soft spot for patterns will know what I'm talking about.

So, Lill is a custom handbag store. Which means you walk in and see all things bright and happy. You pick the style of bag you like, pick your fabrics, and three weeks later get the grotesque/amazing product of your creativity!

Aftermath

This whole process involved some major restraint from me, because my first instinct was to rub myself on the swatches like they were laced with catnip, and my second instinct was to pair as many fun fabrics together as possible (and unless you're Hello Kitty on crack, that doesn't pan out too well). Jenilee was in town, happiness, so she helped me stay on track with some color pairings and all in all, I think I at least made a purse that I'll dig, if no one else does. You can be the judge in three weeks!

first day

I have two words for you.

Massage. Room.

I probably won't post much about work in general, just because that seems like bad practice, but today was my first day and these things are all neutral/happy so here we go:

1. Breakfast catered on Mondays, lunch catered on Thursdays. Yes.

2. My own office. Double yes.

3. I got slammed on the first day so I had to eat lunch in. But that's okay, because the freezer, pantry, and fridge are stocked with lunchy goodness. And not like, frozen pizzas, but Lean Cuisines and microwaveable soup bowls. Just what the 20-something female ordered.

4. In the staff meeting today, it was announced that everyone officially gets to take their birthday off. Mine just so happens to fall within my allotted trial period, bringing my total number of days off during the next two months to 6, including holidays. Whoops!

5. Commuting is gross. I'm grateful for the public transportation and for my office being downtown, but holy hell it takes an hour total each way once you walk to the bus, wait for it to come, and then make 27 stops before your destination (count 'em).

6. The massage room. I bet you know what goes on in here, but I'll tell you anyway. A masseuse comes...three times a week...and you can sign up for 30 minute increments. WHAT?! I guess it's office protocol to just sign up once a month but um, hello, I haven't had a massage in well over a year so yeah, I think I find it within myself to cope with just one massage per month.

7. Before you go getting too jealous, I did work until 7 p.m. today because, as mentioned in #3, I was immediately given a project due tomorrow. And you know what doesn't work well during Operation A-Game? Not working until 7 p.m. when you have a project due tomorrow. About 1/3 of the staff was still there at that point...which makes me think that's not uncommon...which makes me understand why they have a masseuse on staff...no wait I still don't get that. Hooray!

better late than never!

It's the blog you've all been waiting for I've been wanting to write since September...I got a job!

Before you jump out of your seat like I did, it's just a 2-month contract, but if I get in there and don't F it up, the full-time spot should be mine.

So just before Christmas, a friend of mine from college sent me an email saying she thought a job was opening up at the Chicago office of her firm. In the span of 4 days I sent my resume to HR, got the job description, did a phone interview, and did an in-person interview. The interviews went really well, and I felt a great connection with the company and the people I spoke to. The office closed for the holidays, and then I got the call for...a temporary opportunity. Say what?

Based on what the HR girl said, I think what happened is: they realized they needed someone to come in and start doing the work this week but they weren't done with my interviewing process and the hiring process would take even longer. Also, they were moving insanely fast with someone (me!) who didn't even have experience doing the job, which is probably not the best idea from a corporate perspective. Then some genius probably realized I'd be willing to start ASAP on a trial basis, which would give them time to at least go through some of the normal HR motions (i.e. at least posting the job internally) before straight-up hiring someone that had no experience within the position or company. Fair enough.

If they like me and I'm doing a good job, they'll hire me before my contract is up—so that's what we're hoping for here! Although I would love to have a 100% guarantee that I'll end up in this position permanently, I do feel pretty good about where I'm at. If I bring my A-game for two months, it's going to be nearly impossible for them to think about re-training someone else and pulling me from client projects.

Oh, and what is the job already, right. So I'll be a "planner" at a retail marketing agency. Which from what I can tell, basically means I'll be doing a lot of research about the way people shop, and then I'll create a report that will go to other people in the company (creative, etc.) and they'll figure out exactly how to solve the client's problem. If any of you know what my wonderful friend Amy does, it's that. The agencies are a little different (hers is primarily advertising, this one is primarily retail marketing) but the position should be essentially the same. Which is funny—I've always loved hearing about her job because it's so interesting, but I never thought I'd be doing it because agencies can be so hard to crack into.

The firm itself seems laidback; has a lot of young people in it; has HQ in Dallas and offices in NY, Chicago, and LA; and I'd be lying if I said my ears didn't perk up when I heard people discussing happy hour. It definitely seems like the kind of place I can make friends while doing some kickass work, both of which I'm in the market for these days.

Let Operation A-Game begin!

Christmas toast

It's been a hustling-and-bustling 10 days and we're finally settling back in at home and getting ready to re-tackle ye old job hunt...woo hoo!

Due to an unavoidable change in plans, we ended up starting our drive to Florida to visit Brian's family at 3 a.m. on Christmas Eve. Goooood morning! We spent the weekend playing board games and basically eating our faces off. Unlike she's custom to doing, Brian's mom didn't produce any video-worthy gifts for Christmas. Ugh! I guess that's the pro & con of providing a wish list.

Do you like the Florida Christmas tree in the background?

We split our drive on the way back into two parts, and as we're prone to do, ended up taking a slight diversion to the Maker's Distillery in Kentucky. The farm housing the distillery is full of historic buildings that were all decorated for Christmas. We learned all sorts of fun facts about bourbon and I even got to dip my own bottle! (That's right, that deserved an exclamation mark).

Merry Christmas indeed!

merry christmas!

We're sorry to report that Santa will be taking a hiatus this year because, well, she hates you.