Aaaaaggghhhh....so I finally have a minute to breathe and report on what's been going on over the past month or so. Work and my 30/32 birthday party with my brother kept me busy during the weeks leading up to the event. Then my family came to visit the following weekend, and well...this is my first free weekend in a minute. Hence, the aaaaagghhh.....I actually had a very good weekend so far. Yesterday was a wash - I came home, ate, and passed out with my clothes on...signs of a tired woman. I woke up this morning and ran a few errands, then decided I would go to the library and apply for a library card. It was my first time visiting the library here, even though the central library is only a few blocks down the street. I had no idea how HUGE the library here was. 5 levels and it takes up an entire downtown block. I could've searched for any number of books but since it was so massive, I decided to focus my search on bachelorette/bridal shower planning books (for my best friend's wedding), and fashion books. I did initially try to find the Twilight series books (which after 10 minutes of searching, I discovered they were in the "teen reading room" which had it's own section of the second floor....right). Since I know how popular the books are, I asked the librarian to focus on finding me book #3 (I've read the first two already - the second one was disappointing which is why I'm just now getting back into it). It turns out the library owns 31 copies, which were all lent out. And the wait list for those 31 copies had 64 people on it. So since there is a 3 week borrowing period, I estimated the wait to be a good 2 months minimum not considering that you can always renew your checked out books online instead of bringing them back by the due date. I figured I could read 50 books in that timeframe, so I opted not to join the wait list. I did get a few books of interest though - about 5 bridal shower/bachelorette planning books (hey, I've never planned these things before - I need help!) and a couple of fashion books of interest, including "The Fashion Questionnaire" where they ask designers a list of questions such as what styles they like, who their favorite models are to work with and what other designers inspire them. It's pretty insightful if you're into fashion. Afterward, I just walked around downtown, and got some food. I discovered a confectionary shop (actually I've passed by it a million times but it's never actually been open when I'm there) where I stopped in an got a fresh coconut cupcake. Yummmm! I finally made my way home, and I'm just planning to hang out until tonight. It's warm out but not warm enough to sit outside for any length of time, otherwise I'd go sit out in the park and read (and people watch :-) ). Tonight I'm meeting up with my friend Erin to go to a couple of lounge spots in Uptown, then we're planning to go to the Dakota for their late night show. Should be fun.
So as for what I've been up to for the past month - let's see. First there was the party. It was a lot of fun. I don't think I will do anything like it for another......ummm, well, never. But it was a blast to have our closest friends and family come together looking all beautiful and dressed up, and just have a good time. It was an invite only, and drama-free (well, for the guests anyway - there was lots of drama for me!) event. We had lots of good food (although I barely ate any of it - I was too busy socializing and dancing), a great DJ (who I would definitely recommend), excellent entertainment (Comedian Joe Show who was introduced by Talent, a palm reader, a sketch artist, and a body painter who turned out to be very popular as the night went on) and all around good company. I was especially thankful because some of my best friends travel to NYC for the event including my friends Crystal (LA), Rita (New Orleans), Trina (Atlanta), Tarnika (Minneapolis), Jjais (Minneapolis) and my line sister Heather aka "Hedda!!!" (DC). Their presence was such a great gift. I think everyone who came had a really good time. There are lots of things that I could complain about but I won't because I genuinely had a good time, and the effort was definitely worth it. So now I'm waiting on some of y'all to have an event of your own so I can just be a guest :-)
As I mentioned, my family came to visit Memorial Day weekend and we had a good ole time. We spent most of the day Saturday at the Mall of America shopping. I had a free pass to the amusement park from work, so I gave it to my sister and she rode the rides at the Nickelodeon park there for a little while. On Sunday the weather was pretty nice. We went to church, then drove to the Sonic drive in restaurant in West St. Paul (I just found out from one of my coworkers this week that we are getting another Sonic a little closer in Bloomington in the next few weeks - YES!!! I love that place!). After Sonic, we decided to go hang out at the pool in my building. Ok, believe it or not, I've been living here almost a year and I have never been out to the pool. I've showed it to people when they come visit (my Dad, my sister and my niece went when they were visiting a few months back) but I've never actually sat out there. It was nice. When we got there, one of my drunk neighbors came over and was talking us to death but she left us at peace shortly after. My sister had a ball of course. She's a fish like I was when I was her age. After the pool, we ended up going to the GameWorks arcade at Block E downtown and playing games. Monday, we had a "cook-in" since it wasn't warm enough to go out, and besides, I wouldn't know where to have a cookout here anyway. We had burgers and hot dogs, macaroni salad, baked beans and brownies for dessert (and y'all didn't think I could do anything in the kitchen - ha!!!). They flew back Monday night so we didn't do much else the rest of the day.
On the work front, things have been pretty busy although they are calming down. With this past week being a 4 day work week, I had to work a few late nights since one less day only means less time I have to get my work done. Intern season is coming up and I was just asked this week to be an informal intern mentor (of course I said yes - I love mentoring). So I will have an MBA intern that I'm responsible for statusing with during the summer and helping them navigate through their summer. The good thing is that since I'm not an official mentor (meaning they're not actually shadowing me all summer), I don't have to report back about them and we can have a more informal relationship. I'm also participating in a kickoff for the MBA intern managers and mentors this week - giving them insight from an intern's perspective as to how to be a good mentor and manager, and set their intern up for success. On the mentoring front, I just signed up for an official mentor myself. We have a system that allows us to see all the people who have volunteered to be mentors. As a mentee, I had to fill out my assessment of what I'm looking to gain from the mentoring relationship and it showed me potential matches. The woman I requested as my mentor is a black woman who started out in Merchandising and is currently a Design Manager in Apparel & Accessories. I really wanted someone in my division (Apparel & Accessories) and there were only 2 best matches in A&A. One was a woman I already knew somewhat because she is the manager of a good friend of mine. So I figured this woman would be good since I have no connections to her. And I like that she is a black woman because there aren't very many of us here, and I think she might have a unique perspective that I might be able to relate to. She accepted my mentor request right away and send me an email saying how excited she was to meet me. Our first meeting is on Monday, so hopefully it goes well.
Ok, so I refuse to spend my day on this computer, so that's all for now. I'll update with more soon. There's been a lot going on that I haven't even gotten to, and this is the season when Minneapolis comes alive so hopefully it will be a good summer!
Toodles...
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