Oh, hurricane season.
I LOVE IT! Stormy, windy days that remind me of childhood days spent hoping and praying that school would get cancelled.
Sure, Hurricane Isaac is out there right now, but I've got to say that Hurricane "Valerie's Life" has been quite a storm. In a good way, of course.
In less than a week, I had a job offer, a car, a place to stay, I moved in, and started work. People have asked me how I felt, and I honestly couldn't answer the question because I had no time to even think about it. This entire ordeal has been a complete whirlwind! When I'd say my prayers at night, I'd pause, sigh, and just shake my head in disbelief. I just can't believe how quickly my life changed.
As for work, I'm drinking from a fire hose, and it's GREAT. I'm catching on quickly, and the more I get the hang of things, the more excited I get.
Life is beautiful. :)
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Monday, August 20, 2012
When It Rains, It POURS.
You know that familiar saying, "When it rains, it pours?" Sometimes it's for bad, and other times it's for good. I am so excited to say that I experienced one of the most amazing thunderstorms recently that I will never forget. For good. :)
As you probably know, I graduated from college in July and have been on the hunt for a job since April. To save time and prevent myself from reinventing the wheel, I'll direct you to my previous posts for the exhilarating stories and epiphanies that came with that 4-month storm. After barely a month of graduating...
I have a job.
I'm just going to put it out there right away:
This morning, I accepted a position back at Walt Disney World, and better yet, back at my "home," The Land at EPCOT as the Agricultural Sciences Secretary.
And even better yet, in a matter of a little over 24 hours, I got the job offer, found a great car, and have a place to stay in Orlando already (Monica, you are an ANGEL). Seriously. It rained cats and dogs.
Now, I have a lot of explaining to do.
As I was job hunting, I was looking all over the United States from Washington to Maryland. I was THIS close to three different jobs, but for many different reasons, they simply didn't work out. I distinctly remember this moment when I was ruminating about the future that a thought came to my mind: What if you ended up back at Disney? Ask my friend Jon. The thought came to me just weeks before discovering the opening! Time stood still for a second, I looked up to the skies, tilted my head and said, "Really?"
Now, many of you asked over the past two years if I was planning on going back to work for Disney when I graduated, and almost always the answer was "no." It was definitely not because I disliked the company or the internship. I loved them and spent a year and a half recruiting for Disney's internships and college programs at BYU-Idaho and sent 4 friends from school back to The Land as interns. The main reason why I shied away from the idea was that it was a one-in-a-million chance that Disney would have the job I was looking for at the right time. And yes, Disney has it's flaws (believe it or not!), but so does every company. I respect Disney for what it does to bring happiness to millions of people every day.
My career goal at the moment is to find a job where I can help people have a great experience in horticulture, and I was looking more on the administrative/PR/HR side of horticulture than the actual digging in the dirt aspect. I'll save that part for when I have kids and a HUGE garden that will feed the world. Whether it was at a botanic garden, in an HR or PR position for a large landscaping or seed company, recruiting, etc., I wanted to work with people.
This position at The Land popped up when Lori, the current secretary found another job within the company. It was by total chance that I was looking on Disney's career website to just take a quick peek that I saw the opening. And openings at The Land are a rare find, so I consider myself extremely lucky.
Many people in my interview and friends that I talked to about the position scratched their heads and said, "Why did you want to apply for a secretary position?" I came to realize that this position is a GREAT place for me. Not only do I get to go back to The Land and give back to a program that did so much for me, but the position is much more than pushing papers. I will get to do a variety of different tasks including budgeting, payroll, assisting in the recruiting process, and possibly some research on the side that I can dabble in many things to find where my talents shine the most. And overall, I get to help run one of the best intern programs in the world!
I am really looking forward to seeing what I can do for The Land. I know that this job will be what I put into it. It can be a clock-in and clock-out job, or I can take this chance to leave my mark and do the absolute best I can with the talents I've been blessed with. I have the unique background of a degree in Horticulture and a year's worth of intern experience there that allows me to help the intern program progress.
And boy do I have big shoes to fill. Lori has been an AMAZING secretary for years, and I know she will be missed. I have to give her a well-earned shout out that she is the best right now. She's written up a huge how-to manual for me and spent nearly an hour talking to me on the phone about the job as well as Disney's benefits. Lori, thank you so much!
I owe all of this to professors who guided me in the right direction, friends who were support, all my now-coworkers at The Land (so weird!), family, and ultimately my Heavenly Father.
What a huge blessing to come back to a familiar place to start my career that is not far from home. Thank you just doesn't seem to be enough in my prayers to express how much gratitude I feel. So instead, I'm going to give this job my absolute best and show Heavenly Father how grateful I am.
To all who are getting ready to graduate soon or are feeling lost in your career, know that there is a time and place for everything. Don't be afraid to explore different options, and if that means looking somewhere you never thought you would (like me going back to The Land... I'm still trying to comprehend that), do it!
And please do something that I wish I'd done sooner. Do all you can, but remember that there comes a point in the process when it's out of your hands. TRUST that God has a place for you to be, and no matter what it is, He will use you to make a difference in the lives of so many people who need you.
See you all at Disney. :)
As you probably know, I graduated from college in July and have been on the hunt for a job since April. To save time and prevent myself from reinventing the wheel, I'll direct you to my previous posts for the exhilarating stories and epiphanies that came with that 4-month storm. After barely a month of graduating...
I have a job.
I'm just going to put it out there right away:
This morning, I accepted a position back at Walt Disney World, and better yet, back at my "home," The Land at EPCOT as the Agricultural Sciences Secretary.
And even better yet, in a matter of a little over 24 hours, I got the job offer, found a great car, and have a place to stay in Orlando already (Monica, you are an ANGEL). Seriously. It rained cats and dogs.
Now, I have a lot of explaining to do.
As I was job hunting, I was looking all over the United States from Washington to Maryland. I was THIS close to three different jobs, but for many different reasons, they simply didn't work out. I distinctly remember this moment when I was ruminating about the future that a thought came to my mind: What if you ended up back at Disney? Ask my friend Jon. The thought came to me just weeks before discovering the opening! Time stood still for a second, I looked up to the skies, tilted my head and said, "Really?"
Now, many of you asked over the past two years if I was planning on going back to work for Disney when I graduated, and almost always the answer was "no." It was definitely not because I disliked the company or the internship. I loved them and spent a year and a half recruiting for Disney's internships and college programs at BYU-Idaho and sent 4 friends from school back to The Land as interns. The main reason why I shied away from the idea was that it was a one-in-a-million chance that Disney would have the job I was looking for at the right time. And yes, Disney has it's flaws (believe it or not!), but so does every company. I respect Disney for what it does to bring happiness to millions of people every day.
My career goal at the moment is to find a job where I can help people have a great experience in horticulture, and I was looking more on the administrative/PR/HR side of horticulture than the actual digging in the dirt aspect. I'll save that part for when I have kids and a HUGE garden that will feed the world. Whether it was at a botanic garden, in an HR or PR position for a large landscaping or seed company, recruiting, etc., I wanted to work with people.
This position at The Land popped up when Lori, the current secretary found another job within the company. It was by total chance that I was looking on Disney's career website to just take a quick peek that I saw the opening. And openings at The Land are a rare find, so I consider myself extremely lucky.
Many people in my interview and friends that I talked to about the position scratched their heads and said, "Why did you want to apply for a secretary position?" I came to realize that this position is a GREAT place for me. Not only do I get to go back to The Land and give back to a program that did so much for me, but the position is much more than pushing papers. I will get to do a variety of different tasks including budgeting, payroll, assisting in the recruiting process, and possibly some research on the side that I can dabble in many things to find where my talents shine the most. And overall, I get to help run one of the best intern programs in the world!
I am really looking forward to seeing what I can do for The Land. I know that this job will be what I put into it. It can be a clock-in and clock-out job, or I can take this chance to leave my mark and do the absolute best I can with the talents I've been blessed with. I have the unique background of a degree in Horticulture and a year's worth of intern experience there that allows me to help the intern program progress.
And boy do I have big shoes to fill. Lori has been an AMAZING secretary for years, and I know she will be missed. I have to give her a well-earned shout out that she is the best right now. She's written up a huge how-to manual for me and spent nearly an hour talking to me on the phone about the job as well as Disney's benefits. Lori, thank you so much!
I owe all of this to professors who guided me in the right direction, friends who were support, all my now-coworkers at The Land (so weird!), family, and ultimately my Heavenly Father.
What a huge blessing to come back to a familiar place to start my career that is not far from home. Thank you just doesn't seem to be enough in my prayers to express how much gratitude I feel. So instead, I'm going to give this job my absolute best and show Heavenly Father how grateful I am.
To all who are getting ready to graduate soon or are feeling lost in your career, know that there is a time and place for everything. Don't be afraid to explore different options, and if that means looking somewhere you never thought you would (like me going back to The Land... I'm still trying to comprehend that), do it!
And please do something that I wish I'd done sooner. Do all you can, but remember that there comes a point in the process when it's out of your hands. TRUST that God has a place for you to be, and no matter what it is, He will use you to make a difference in the lives of so many people who need you.
See you all at Disney. :)
Saturday, August 4, 2012
Stop and Reflect
Today, I got back in touch with my intern supervisor from Denver Botanic Gardens and two things happened:
#1: I completely forgot to give a shout-out to Katy in my recent blog post!
#2: Without intending to, Katy reminded me to go back and read my blog posts from the past.
Katy is one of my most favorite people I met a year ago in Denver. She was my supervisor at DBG and good friend that made my experience there a great one!
To Katy: I'll never forget the time when we had to weed that area near the fence where it smelled SO bad, and I couldn't stop laughing at your reaction when we'd expose another pocket of stench. Your laugh is one of my favorite parts about you! It's contagious, sincere, and so warm. Thank you for all the lunch adventures with coworkers and volunteers, for being so patient with me and my learning curve, for teaching me everything I ever wanted to know about seeds, and for being such a positive influence on me. If I ever end up back in Denver, we will definitely be meeting up for some Ethiopian food. :)
#1: I completely forgot to give a shout-out to Katy in my recent blog post!
#2: Without intending to, Katy reminded me to go back and read my blog posts from the past.
Katy is one of my most favorite people I met a year ago in Denver. She was my supervisor at DBG and good friend that made my experience there a great one!
Our seed collecting adventures!
Now for the #2 part of this blog post: Katy sent me a message on Facebook mentioning that she'd read my blog, and it reminded me that I hadn't read my own blog in a very long time. What an eye-opener to read about all these experiences and insights I'd had in the past that I forgot about!
I am a HUGE fan of writing things down and keeping records. It's amazing what you forget about and also how much something you wrote 5 years ago can help you today. This week, I used a "smash book" I got from Arica for graduation to put all these cards and letters I'd been saving since I was a kid. I picked the ones that meant a lot to me and put them in this book. I can't tell you how many times I've gone back and flipped through the pages to re-read letters from over a decade ago from my dad or a birthday card from a friend.
Life is wonderful. :)
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