It was originally thought that my first week at my interim marketing position was to start 3/12 but by a beautiful stroke of a blessing, it started 3/5 (retail was burning me out and I did not want to spend another week there if I did not have to). Hence, my first week is complete! It was a whirlwind of a week. I am getting paid more to do far less strenuous work, in a comfortable office with everything I could possibly want at my fingertips and in front of senior leadership who are prodding at me to see what I am made of and how that would potentially fit into their department -- how could I NOT love this?!
Within the first day, I already had three out of state business trips planned. I will be going to WI twice by the end of the month and to MN (Twin Cities area) by the first week of April. I am looking forward to these adventures! I am going on these trips to set up and run major marketing events and then lastly observe (to later put into action for my leg of the national marketing tour) the biggest event of the year. No pressure there.
It took me a little while to wrap my head around everything that was concurrently in the works from events to 2-5 calls/day and meetings with directors/associate directors. It was relatively entertaining (not in the moment but looking back on it) when someone would ask me about the progress of a certain event and I would have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA what they were talking about because they used not a 2nd, 3rd, or 4th title of an event but a FIFTH title for the SAME event. I finally had to sit down and chart out all possible names for all of the events in the works and I could respond more inteligently.
Looking back on the week, I could not figure out how the woman I am filling in for worked more than 40/45 hrs a week, even though she constantly stated she did. It blew my mind. The associate director took care of that problem for me. Not only, did I find out, that I had to take over the same responsibilities but I also have to implement 2-3 major new initiatives on top of those responsibilities within the 3 months that I am in that position. (Note: I did not mention to the AD my thoughts on the original workload. She just happened to hear about the magic that I apparently can work when overloaded with tasks.)
I have to note that my AD (associate director) is FANTASTIC. She has been with the company since before all of the mergers came about. She has worked in every single position within the department and therefore knows what it takes to be successful in those positions. She is impressively patient and is great at helping me outline an aggressive plan of action. I also really enjoy the marketing manager. I generally do not work directly with him because he focuses more on retail and I focus more on the business channel but he has a really good head on his shoulder and a plethora of aggressive ideas for the department/company. I can see myself being challeneged in a lot of good ways by the entire team.
The week wrapped up with my 25th birthday - HOLY COW - I AM 25?! Crazy. I do not believe it. Alas, I must believe it. P took me out to a yummy Thai dinner. He kindly agreed to go salsa dancing with my since I had not gone in a long while but the place we were going to go to only offers it on Saturday nights and he was going away on a business trip for the weekend. Do not worry, he is not off the hook! We are going this coming Saturday :0)
Today was an interesting day. It was confirmation at church today and I offered to help set up, serve and clean up the dinner for the confirmands and their families. I went to the early mass at 7:30 so I could help prep during the high mass. I got to meet lots of interesting people at church that I do not normally get to interact with because I normally have to run right off to work. It was good to meet more people because I do not feel like such a stranger now. I also got the meet the Bishop. He flew in from France which was interesting. I also bought hours worth of audio books from the church bookstore. I am excited because now I have something productive and edifying to listen to on my drive to work. Two of the titles include the SSPX 40th & 41st anniversary conference serieses (sp?) and am willing to lend them to anyone if they would like to borrow them.
Fun find of the week: First, the backstory. Working at the corporate office now, I have to dress in a more business professional attire (of course). I have slowly been growing tired of the traditional button-up collard shirts and my exaspiration was expedited this week. I am growing tired of them because no matter what size button-up shirt I get, the material always seems to pucker out between the buttons which attracts unwanted attention. So, I have been in quest of buttonless professional blouses that are not low cut. It is a harder feat than one might think! I was browsing around a second hand shop on Saturday looking for materials for my latest crafty project when I spotted a number of silky buttonless professional blouses with higher necklines. The best part is, I pick up close to 10 of them and the most expensive one was 37 cents! HooRah for a great find!
The weather is warming up in Chicagoland and hopefully P and I can go bike riding soon. I cannot wait to get out and take some pictures of our journeys!
Oh! Last fun event of the week. I decided to take advantage of my traditional work week and I signed up for a knitting class. I am a self-taught knitter and really wanted to learn more techniques. Plus, I wanted to socialize more instead of just learn from a book. I started my first class on Thursday and am making a pair of fingerless gloves. It is a simple project as it is intended for starters but I have already learned a lot and will most likely sign up for another course. It is located in a cute little shop about 7 minutes from my apartment. I will have to post a picture of the project when it is completed.
I have sufficiently chatted your ear off! Until next time!
