Just got to my desk...

...and it's 8:57am. I'm a half hour behind schedule and still the first one in the office. There's something wrong with this picture.

Bye bye til Monday!

It's 5:00 and I'm outta here :-)

This weekend I will be...
-Walking for ALS along the West Side Highway
-Enjoying the wonderful weather
-Hanging with friends
-Playing on my ZogSports team

What do you all have going on? Whatever it is, I hope you enjoy it!!!

Congratulations, General Hospital!

This is amazing.

Fridayyyyy.

I actually could not be happier that it's Friday.

Though, this has been a semi-productive week. On Monday, I met with my bus friend's friend to discuss her marketing job at a top financial services firm. Then yesterday, I had a phone conversation with an alum of my college to discuss her role as a marketer for a professional services firm. Who knows if anything will come of either, but it never hurts to expand your network!

RIDICULOUS.

I first heard of Charice two years ago when she sang Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You" on Oprah. I hadn't been so blown away by a singer since Bianca Ryan.

Now, Charice has just released her first solo album, which she debuted yesterday on Oprah. See below for a taste of her singing as she cover's Justin Beiber's "Baby" for Perez TV.

What a nice change!

As you all know, I went on my second interview last week with unnamed company. I was told I'd hear this week regarding a possible third interview, if I passed. I took that with a grain of salt, since we've established that human resources can - for the lack of a better word - suck.

I just got a phonecall from the HR manager at said company "updating me on the interview process." She said I'll know if I'm moving on within the next day or two.

Regardless of the outcome, it's just refreshing to work with someone who's responsive!

Uh, I can hear you.

This morning, as I enjoyed my Starbucks coffee and Kashi TLC bars, I heard my name being repeated by coworkers in someone's office. No, they weren't gossiping. They were volunteering my time to help with something without asking me first.

No one has spoken to me about this said event. I only know what I could hear through my cube wall, and that isn't much. I heard fragments like, "Ali can do..." and "Ali will take care of..."

HELLO? Did anyone think to include me in that meeting?

I was just cc'd on an email from a coworker who attached an Excel spreadsheet of names. I responded by saying, "Am I supposed to be doing something with this?"

Anyone else want to go?

My roses have bloomed!

My Farmville roses, that is :-)

My missing boss.

I literally have not heard from or seen my boss once today. It is currently 4:54pm. Will today break the record for time at work spent without seeing her?

Hi, lunch!

Today's most definitely a Hale & Hearty soup day.

How is it May 10th already?

Hope you all enjoyed your weekend! Mine was great, except for the fact that I live in a different state than my parents and therefore couldn't be with my mother yesterday. Maybe next year?

Anyway, important meeting after work today. Phase 3 has taken effect. My bus friend, Katie, was nice enough to put in touch with her friend Alyssa that works in marketing at her firm. And Alyssa was nice enough to agree to coffee today after work!

Something to look forward to!

All in a day's work.

And this is pretty much what my day consisted of.

I hope you all enjoy your weekend! My friend from college is in from out of town, so I will be spending tonight with her. And tomorrow night I plan on seeing a movie and taking it easy. Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there... wish I could be with mine on Sunday :-(

To make you laugh!

How to fail a test with dignity...

I hope today goes by fast...

Okay, forgive me for acting like The Biggest Loser and product placing on my blog, but I love MultiGrain Cheerios. I'm not sure what I'd do without them every morning and I hope I never have to find out. I love Cheerios in general. I started off eating the regular kind, then moved to the honey nut. Finally, I landed on the multigrain flavor, and let me tell you,they're amazing! They give me just the fuel I need to...

...look for jobs, apply for jobs, email people about jobs...

Which brings me to what I'll be doing for the next few hours. Though, Fridays aren't the best for job searching-related activities. Do you think people will respond to emails on Friday?

Woohoooo!

Loooooong day.

Had lunch with my former boss and her new baby today! Such a nice treat in the middle of the day, and a nice break from staring at this computer screen. I wish I could post pictures at work so I could show you all her cute little face!

Wasn't that productive today since I was out of the office for a good three hours, but I promise tomorrow to post the self tanners I researched, as well as an update on my job search!

Forget something?

Okay, Google is genious.

I just finished writing an email so I hit the "send" button. Seconds later, Gmail conveniently reminded me that I said - in the email - that I was "attaching" something, and there was nothing actually attached to the email.

AMAZING!

Happy Thursday!

Last day before the week ends to look for jobs and send out emails. Going to send out that email to the American Express employee this morning - the one whose address I spent an hour looking for yesterday! I also have a few other emails on the docket. Hey, at least I'm being productive. I also found a bunch of self tanners yesterday that I will post later on. Weeeeee!

When all else fails, give Jewish geography a try.

Seriously, I just spent the past hour looking for the American Express employee email chain. Is it @americanexpress.com? Is it @amex.com? First name then last name? First initial, last name?

Of course, I then ask a friend of mine to help me find it, and five minutes later she sends me the address. "A friend's cousin used to work there," she said.

So a friend's friend's cousin got me the American Express employee email address. Gotta love it!

The NEW Frappuccino.

Starbucks just recently unveiled a new version of its Frappuccino drink. My boyfriend doesn't like it as much as the old recipe, but I have yet to try it.

BAD NEWS: Starbucks discontinued its Pike Place promotion, where a tall coffee was $1.63. It's now back up to its regular price of $1.85.

GOOD NEWS: Starbucks unveiled a new Frappuccino promotion, where during happy hour, the specialty drink is half price! This comes at the perfect time, since summer is right around the corner and Frappuccinos often act as my mid-afternoon snack.

I just had to come into work today, didn't I?

It was so nice to have a day "off" yesterday. And it's not like I missed anything - there were five emails waiting for me in my inbox this morning. Seriously, just want to cry.

Need to make a list of things to do today to keep me occupied.

1. Research self-tanners
2. Search Craigslist for apartments
3. Shop online (obv)
4. Read stack of magazines at my desk

Anyone need help with something today? I'm free!

It's makover night!!!

For all of us that watch BL, we've waited weeks for this! Can't wait!

Round two complete!

Thanks to all of you who reached out to wish me luck and then to see how my interview went! It went as best as I think it could've gone... ended up meeting with four people. Needless to say, I'm all talked out. I'll let you know if I made it to round three :-)

Interview day!

I decided to take the day off from work in order to solve the scheduling problem I had told you all about last week. The interview is from 12:30 to 2 and I'm meeting with three people - one of whom is via video conference in California! NUTS!

Will let you know how it goes later tonight. Luck please!

It's 2:03 already?!

The one great thing about meetings (when you have little to do) is their ability to make a day go by so much faster than it normally would. Of course, if you're busy, meetings are the nemesis. Just so happens that, surprise! I have no work to do today. It's a good thing, because that Chop't salad put me in a food coma. Remind me next time not to eat the entire thing plus two cookies (sugar and chocolate chip).

When all else fails, eat!

There's a major meeting here at 12:30 with the higher-ups today. They're calling it a "brown bag meeting," and are encouraging us to brown bag our food and eat lunch while we're conversing. A coworker had the brilliant idea of going to Chop't for lunch. At least I'll have my delicious salad to entertain me during the two hour meeting!

To Excel or not to Excel.

As you all know, I've been struggling recently with what I want to "do with my life" and "be when I grow up." Currently, I'm in marketing, but do I want to do that for the rest of my life? I'm unsure.

I've been investigating other career avenues, with finance making the occasional appearance in my thoughts. My boyfriend's brother is in finance, so I decided to speak with him about potential career paths in the industry.

He proceeded to tell me that unless I want a deep and intimate relationship with Excel, I should stay away from finance. This made me sad. Though I understand the inner-workings of Excel, I'd rather not remain best friends with it forever.

Is he right? Is it all Excel? If this is the case, maybe finance isn't for me. Anyone know what consulting is?

This weather is unacceptable.

For all you people out there that love summer, can you please explain to me why? Because right now, I'm soaked, sweaty, and my hair looks as if it was electricuted. Even my Starbucks barista Jeremiah commented that I looked over-exhilerated and it was only 8am. Oy geez.

I'm debating whether or not to get my hair "japanesed" again. I did it three times in college and it saved my life - it takes me an hour to do my hair, because I have so much of it, and in the summer it's just ridiculous and unmanageable. But then I think about how straight my hair was afterwards, and how the procedure could possibly be damaging to the hair. I was 30/60 against before today. This weather pushed me to 80/20.