An update!

So my time has been spent lately on a million different projects that has left me very little time for my blog. 😦 Don’t fear! I am back and looking and alive.

Even though I have not been actively writing I have been actively reading and well I have loved what I have seen. The first years in my program are talented and opinionated and I am loving it!

There are two in particular that I am dying to talk about. The first is A Free Writer by Ben Gooding.

Why I love it!

It is witty and light but well written. Yes, I am slightly biased due to the lovely fact that well it is full of my favourite nerd universes such as Harry Potter, Batman AND Star Wars! It is also just funny and enjoyable to read. Ben does a wonderful job of infusing humor into his writing to make it personable and warm. I truly cannot wait to keep reading!

The second is Effective Marketing and Current Events by Kristen Walt.

Why I love it!

It’s personable, it’s real, it’s up to date and most importantly it is interactive! Kristen does a fantastic job of weaving real life and her experiences into her posts and stories. She makes sure she can interact with her readers through polls and videos and is not afraid to voice her opinion. I also cannot wait to hear more!

Please check out the fabulous student talent and help support these young writers!

Happy reading!

-M

 

How Many Hours Do I Work Per Week?

Many of you know that I have now moved to working from home for my employer. That means I can’t punch in and out on a standard time clock which well can be a challenge.

I did find this awesome blog post the other day and well this is how I do it. I also do this for project management at school. It allows me to be able to track how many hours I am spending on what and helps me keep my priorities in check.

I would so recommend reading Hannah’s post and trying this out!

-M

Source: How Many Hours Do I Work Per Week?

Happy Thanksgiving!

For all of us Canadian’s this weekend marks the first awesome food festival of the fall: Thanksgiving. It is one of my absolute favourite weekends of the year. In the spirit of Thanksgiving and instead of my usual posts I am going to talk about all the amazing things I am thankful for.

Family

I have been blessed with an amazing family who redefines the definition of support. Without them I would not be as successful as I am today.

  

Friends

I have the most amazing friends on the face of the planet. You guys know who you are. From listening to me complain about Skipper and those challenges to celebrating my successes and theirs to dancing ridiculously to Taylor Swift or well having one too many on St. Patty’s day. These girls are what make the stress bearable and the fun far funnier than it really needs to be.

    

Skipper

Well he is the best and as much as sometimes I want to smack him, he always comes through for me when I need him. Besides he can always make me smile and what is more important in life than that?

School

I am very lucky to have been born in Canada so I would have the opportunity to not only attend public school but also post secondary. Many girls around the world do not have the same opportunities in life that I do simply because they are girls and that is the worst reason to be excluded from learning.

 

The right to vote

I am so thankful for all the women who came before me and fought for me to have the same rights as men. Especially for the right to do what is the most important civil duty we as Canadians have: voting. I will cast my educated ballot in this election and honor the memory of the powerful and outspoken women who battled to give me this right.

Being born a Canadian

As I get older and continue to look around the world at the way various countries work I grow more and more grateful to have been born a Canadian. We take it for granted but really we are truly lucky. There are no civil wars, no ethnic cleansing’s, and no invasions. We are allowed to love whomever we choose to. Practice whatever religion we would like. As women we are given the same opportunities as men to go to school, join the work force, enlist in the military, work as a first responder, run for Prime Minister or simply be a mom. We can choose to do anything we want. Many people around the world are not nearly as lucky as we Canadians are.

So this Thanksgiving make sure to count your blessings because as Canadians we are blessed with what we have. Enjoy the time with your family and tell those you love just how important they are. Life is to short to focus on the negatives.

Happy Thanksgiving y’all!

Experience Friday. From Toronto.

Hi All,

So last week didn’t happen because well I was taking a vacation from life while I visited my 2 amazing and beautiful best friends in Toronto for the weekend. So here is what I learned:

Second Year Comes with Higher Expectations

For any first years who are reading this; be prepared. It is not all sunshine and rainbows. More is expected and you have to up your game to stay with it. I worked a lot a head so I didn’t have to think while I was away and I thought I would be totally fine… For the most part I was but missing even one class felt like I was a month behind and I even read the lectures!

Make Your Plan with Room

When I was making out my weekly plan last Sunday night to make sure I would have everything done and ready to go on time, I gave myself a buffer day. I planned to have a week and a half’s worth of work done in 3 days. It was the best thing I ever did. Aiming to have everything done and ready to be handed in Wednesday by 5 meant that when life happened and something was going to have to wait, I wasn’t left freaking out and panicking.

Sometimes You Just Really Need a Break

Life can suck sometimes and it can leave you grasping for air. The air I was grasping for was space from my real life and spending time with my friends. This allowed me to forget everything that was going on and just be me for a little while.

Taylor Swift is a Goddess

If I need to explain this… well… just no.

Sometimes You don’t Need the Support You Think You do

Last week I received an award for Academic Excellence in my first year at SLC. For me, that was a very proud moment and I thought that I would need Skipper there. Turns out the military life got in the way and Skipper couldn’t come. As much as I hate to admit this, I did just fine on my own. Skipper if you are reading this I am still upset.

-M

And now a note from Skipper:

She’s wasn’t lying, it took a large amount of chocolate to quell this storm – Shout out to spin desserts in Kingston!

Experience Friday

Hey everyone,

This week has been long and draining. Emotions ran high and stress levels jumped through the roof as the work load begins to increase. Here is what I learned.

No matter how awful the week is carve out some ‘you’ time. Do what you need to do to stay happy, calm and healthy. For me that is yoga. The biggest thing I learned this week is that no matter how awful the world is, you will always be welcome in child’s pose for as long as you need. Big shout out to Studio 330 for being awesome!

Yoga itself has taught me a lot about life and myself. For one, breathe. Breathe through the stretch, breathe through life and the challenges you face and remember that all stretches should be felt and there is nothing wrong with pushing deeper if that is what you need.

School work is an amazing distraction from real life. Sometimes I am just tired of people and all the emotions surrounding me right now and my school work is the best place to hide. Word documents don’t talk back.

There will always be people you lean on and then there will be the people who have no idea what is going on in your life but their presence alone will make the day better and the challenges seem smaller. For me that is my Ambassador’s team. No matter what we face in our lives, for an hour a week all that matters are the 5 people in that board room working to better our program and there is something very magical about that time. We are a family.

Also, Tide to Go is an amazing life saving device that EVERY human needs.

Go out and do something good for YOU today. Ill be at yoga if anyone needs me.

-M

Blood, Sweat and Tears.

Friday I finally finished up my first year of college.

So obviously I am very stoked. Finally I can sleep in, binge watch Netflix and not feel guilty about it later, did I mention sleep in? But at the same time I will miss it. I am lucky to have been hired to do full time work in my field right after first year but I will definitely miss going to class and being as crazy busy as I was. This summer will be forcing me to grown and mature a lot.

This year has taught me so so so much. Yes, school and the formal learning taught me a lot like it was suppose to do. But I learned so much more about myself.

This year I met a boy who tests me in ways nobody ever has. I would imagine any girl who falls head over heals for anyone in the military can relate to what I’m saying. It’s HARD. The uniforms are wonderful but at the end of the day they have to leave when they are told to. Yes that also means that you could be sitting in a movie theater and all of a sudden an email comes in and he has to go back to base or school or where ever he is told to.

It hurts sometimes and all you want to be mad but you can’t because you in a way signed up for that too. I got lucky though. I get to love a man who is better than the best and who treats me better than anyone ever could even when those dreaded emails arrive or another training course takes him away.

On top of worrying and occasional stress surrounding the Boyfriend, school has always been a very important part of my life and in college that equals stress!

Between annoying unmotivated group memebers, ever changing work schedules, and the endless list of demanding projects and deadlines, the stress was huge and mounting. The work never really seemed to end. Blood, (yes, blood. paper cuts are NOT fun) sweat and so many tears seemed to be poured all over the year.

Thankfully the hard work has started to pay off and I start my first full time job on Tuesday. So as I am starting a new chapter in my work life; I am now going to start a new section of my blog dedicated to my experiences this summer and into the next school year!