How am I busier on the weekends than I am during the week?

No really, how? It amazes me what I can get myself into...

Friday we spent all day at school in a professional development course on Access. I've used it before, but I don't work with it on a normal basis, so some additional foundation was helpful. This particular class was just the "beginner" level - we'll move on to "intermediate" next month. That's when it really starts to become useful. It wasn't a bad class, though, I did learn a few new things that I can put into practice at work. It did, however, make for a long day. That evening I did some prep for the insanity that I knew would be Saturday, and that prep work on top of spending an evening playing catch-up with several friends resulted in minimal sleep. That was probably not the best plan.

I got up at 5 am (no I'm not kidding) on Saturday morning. I needed to finish a few things up at home before heading to campus. If I haven't mentioned it before, I act as an advisor for an on campus student organization that focuses on community service. They work closely with the scouting community, and on Saturday, they hosted a HUGE event (with over 900 scouts in attendance). The scouts come to campus for a day and take merit badge classes - it's a super fun event for them...and a super stressful event for us. The group has been planning the details for about a year now (they start on next year's event next week). I showed up to help with the morning activities and spent the hours between 6 and 10 resolving several minor (and a few major) crises.

I then drove out to Rogers to attend a memorial service - not the happiest way to spend a Saturday, but when you love someone, you're there for them through happy AND sad, right? It was a nice, quite service, and we actually ended up smiling and laughing a good deal more than one would expect at such an event.

Immediately after that was over, I drove back to Fayetteville, stopped at Party City to pick up balloons and then Rick's Bakery for an order of petit fours, then headed home to straighten the house and get everything ready for the baby shower I was hosting at 2pm - the theme? The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Cute, right?

Thanks to some help from my incredible roommate and another friend, we had everything set up and ready by the time the mom-to-be arrived (thank goodness!). The shower went off without a hitch, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. The highlight was definitely the beautiful goodies by Rick's (they always do a fantastic job).

I spent the rest of the afternoon with my roommate - alternately watching a movie, cleaning up, and pretending to study for the Strategy midterm we have coming up. Sunday was mostly devoted to ACTUALLY studying, with a few meetings thrown in for good measure. I felt quite productive, despite the fact that I STILL haven't done the pile of laundry I've been saying I'll do for about a week now...hmm...

Anyway, this week should be interesting. We've had three classes "cancelled" in leiu of other activities - Finance is cancelled all week because we have a three hour meeting tonight and we don't have Retail on Wednesday so that we can have time on our own to work on our midterm. Then, on Thursday, we have the scary Strategy midterm (eeek/sigh)...

How is it midterm time already? Have we had enough class to justify that? The snow really messed with my schedule. Time is just flying - Spring Break is in two weeks and then we only have six weeks of classes left! Graduation will be here before we know it...if I can pass that Strat midterm, that is...blerg. I'll let you know how it goes. 'Til then!

One for One

Last Thursday morning I had the opportunity to attend a lecture by Blake Mycoskie at John Brown University. If you aren't familiar with Blake, you're probably at least familiar with his company - Toms Shoes.

I love Toms - they make me super happy. And I love the business model - every time someone buys a pair of shoes, a pair is given to a child in need. It's brilliant. Who'd have thought that giving something away every time you sell something would make for a profitable business? Good job, Blake!

His talk focused on why he'd incorporated giving into his business model in the first place. As it turns out, the giving was the original concept. He'd been down in Argentina and seen how much the village kids there needed shoes. He decided he wanted to help, but rather than rely on charity work, he wanted to find a way to make it a business - and Toms was born.

He wrapped up by saying that giving back doesn't just feel good, but that it can be a great thing for your business and your own personal brand. He mentioned three ways in which incorporating giving into your life and business is a good thing.

First, when you give back, your customers become your marketers. They do all of the advertising for you - there's a passion there that customers want to share with everyone. They believe in the cause and they become involved.

Next, a company that gives back attracts dedicated, passionate employees. Everyone wants to be a part of something. People want to work at companies that are doing good things, giving back. People want purpose, something to be proud of. A company that gives back provides that.

Finally, when you incorporate giving into your model, other people want to help you, because helping you succeed means helping you give more. As such a tiny start-up, Toms would not have become who they are today without the help of some really big names - Vogue, Ralph Lauren, etc. Those names believed in what Blake was doing and they wanted to help him succeed.

He was a fantastic speaker, I'm really glad I got the chance to hear him talk about the company. He brought even more passion to an already enchanting company.

The rest of the week/weekend was spent in Chattanooga, Tennessee. My little brother turned twenty-one, so we all drove out to help celebrate. Our Christmas was a bit punctuated this year, what with work schedules and my India trip, so getting to spend several days as a family was nice.

Now it's March and time is speeding by much faster than I can process. We've picked up graduation regalia and midterms are already upon us! Eeek! Someone slow this down!

I did get a bit of a break tonight - the Vienna Boys Choir was at the Walton Arts Center, and so I treated myself to a night out. It was lovely. Now I must go organize my thoughts and to-do list so that I don't get even further behind. Happy March, everyone!

Hurry up, Thanksgiving!

Life is a little crazy right now - I feel like I'm running out of time to get everything done! Over the next week, we have a paper due, a presentation, another India class, and our first final. Not to mention we need to finish collecting data, start writing our research paper, finish another presentation, another project, another paper, and study for finals (all before December 2nd...eeeek!).

On top of that, I'm throwing a huge dinner party on Thursday (the busiest day I have this week...naturally), and so the house needs to be cleaned, food must be cooked, decor put up, etc. It's a lot and there simply aren't enough hours in each day to do what I need to do (and sleep...which I require...well, the people I interact with require it of me...)

At least work has slowed down. The past few weeks have been INSANE - trying to get this huge report ready for Walmart. We finally turned it in, though, so we can breathe a little (which I need right now).

So, yeah, you might not hear from me for a few days...

But, if you find yourself at a loss for things to do this week, you could always take my survey (in the post below) OR you could go enjoy this open house - I've mentioned Riffraff several times before. Kirsten, the owner, is a U of A grad, and she's brilliant. Her store is precious and if you're looking to find some unique gifts for the holidays, this is the place to go. Yay for supporting local businesses!

The phrase "War Eagle" and I have a love-hate relationship

Every year, on the third weekend of October, northwest Arkansas is flooded with scads of crafters. There are (at least) three HUGE craft fairs that happen – with War Eagle being the original (and best, in my opinion). My “Tutu” lives up in Rogers, just a little ways from War Eagle Mill, so we almost always go together. The setting is just beautiful. This is the mill:

See all the people on the bridge? It gets crazy. Oh, while we're at it, how bout a view from the bridge?

The fairs start on Wednesday or Thursday, but I normally drive up to Rogers on Friday evening and Tutu and I make the rounds on Saturday morning. We get up super early (like 6 or 7), drive out to the farm and have breakfast at the mill. Now, there is a strategy to this early start. If you don’t get out to the farm before 9am, you have to sit in traffic for about two hours just to park. Then you have to wade through the thousands (yes, thousands) of people who got there before you in order to see anything. If, however, you are War Eagle experts like me and Tutu, you: get there early, park relatively close, have a freshly made, whole-wheat buttermilk biscuit with sausage, then wander the tents without having to move like you’re on a Tokyo subway car.

Now, you may be thinking “Why are there that many people at a craft fair?” This is a legitimate question if you are imagining the fair as a little area of a few tents with people peddling things like marshmallow guns and homemade candles. If that’s the case, you’re half correct…in that way that there are a few vendors with homemade candles. Otherwise, you’re way off. These fairs are gigantic and the vendors come in from all over selling everything from, yes, marshmallow guns to handmade wooden benches and gorgeous artwork.  

With War Eagle in particular, the fair is divided into “hobby” crafts and “professional” crafts. The professional section is grouped together on one side of the river and is judged. The hobby section is on the other side (and is a bit less organized). We normally start with the judged tents (there are 4 tents and a barn, each with four rows of about 15 booths). This year one of my roommate’s friends was in the judged tents. Her name is Autumn and her stuff is really cute…see? After a couple of hours, we head back across the river to briefly peruse the hobby tents. I have one tent that I visit every year, Vega Pottery. I buy one piece each time and I’ve built up quite a collection (Tutu got me started, my first few pieces were graduation presents). This year I also got Gigi some biscuits (with flavors like Blueberry and Steak and Mashed Paw-tater…she could care less what they’re called).

After the fair, Tutu and I normally have lunch. We opted out of fair food this year (everything from funnel cakes to Indian tacos to strawberry crepes) in favor of a tea room down on the Rogers square.

I then collected Gigi and we headed back to Fayetteville to meet up with some friends for the football game (we played Auburn) and Dickson St. Oktoberfest. This is only the second year they’ve done Oktoberfest, so it’s not very big yet, but there was a semi-entertaining brat eating contest (semi-entertaining…semi-really gross).

We went to Hog Haus to watch the massacre that was the football game (Auburn isn't THAT awesome...the dumb SEC refs just made it look that way...besides, they're schizophrenic, what does "War Eagle" have to do with Tigers anyway?), then spent the rest of the evening listening to an 80’s cover band at Jose’s. 

Long day, but good times with some of my favorite people. I should probably do homework now…*sigh* 

Adventures in Puppy-Sitting

My friend Holly has a sweet little Cavalier-Poodle mix named Bella. Precious, right?

She’s a few months younger than Gigi, but they’re about they same size, so they play well together. Holly and her husband went to Dallas this weekend for the Arkansas-A&M game, so Bella and Gigi had a sleepover.

It was funny to watch them play. Gigi was SUPER excited at first and Bella was pretty upset that Will had left her in a new house with a crazy ball of white fluff, but she eventually came around. Gigi quickly changed her “OMG let’s play” attitude, though, once she realized that playing involved sharing her toys. She is not accustomed to sharing ANYTHING – toys, beds, couches, me…so she once the excitement of having a friend over wore off, she no longer wanted to play. As a matter of fact, every time Bella would pick up a toy, Gigi would run to me and poke me like, “Mom! She’s got my rope! Look! Don’t you see this is a problem?! Why aren’t you helping?” Then she’d go take the rope from Bella, bring it to me, put it in my lap, and sit on it. 

Eventually they learned to share and the rest of the weekend was full of epic tug-o-war matches (with Bella generally winning a) cause she’s bigger and b) cause Gigi would get annoyed and come tattle to me – forfeiting her shot at winning). This was one of our better moments:

We went to the farmer’s market on Saturday morning and they had a BLAST. They got cooed over and loved on and got to play with kiddos. 

They’re a sweet little duo. Today we went and hung out on Old Main lawn. The leaves are starting to change and it’s just beautiful. It was a great weekend.

Sidenote: the football game went well. We won, and in the end, that’s what matters, but I’m glad we weren’t playing an SEC team. We’d’ve gotten stomped. We HAVE to play better next week. Oh, and Bama lost…I can’t decide if this is good or bad.

I have midterms tomorrow, Tuesday, and Wednesday…blerg. I’ll let you know how they go. ‘Til then…

Weekends? What are those?

Um, so this weekend was Bikes, Blues, and BBQ - I try to convince myself each year that it wasn't so bad last year and that I might even enjoy it this year. I'm always wrong.

It was also our second India class - more about that later.

In other news, the Hogs didn't play this weekend. Bama did. They won...again...but the way they played made me feel much better about last week.

Yeah, so, I have an accounting exam on Monday. And a paper due tomorrow. And a memo to write. And no clean clothes. Don't expect an update 'til at least Tuesday. Happy DayThatWasSupposedToBeAWeekendButWasn't.

Wondering where I went?

Confession: I have been a bad blogger…I’m sorry. I promise to do better from now on.

So, as you might have guessed from the lack of updates, I’ve been a bit busy as of late. In order to give you a better picture as to what has kept me so busy, I’m going to give you the hi-lights in this post, and further elaborate in subsequent posts throughout the week. Good plan? I thought so, too.

Okay, highlights:

¨      First India class

¨      First Professional Development Class

¨      Supplier Joint Business Plan Summit at Walmart

¨      Internship Experience Presentations, Round One

¨      Networking Lunch with the Arkansas Executive Forum

¨      FOOTBALL

¨      Forest Gump and Pancakes

¨      Internship Experience Presentations, Final Round

¨      Farmers’ Market and Ozark Harvest Food Festival (oh, and more football!)

So, any of the above have you intrigued? Even if it doesn’t, you should check back tomorrow. Plenty of fun-packed posts to come. ‘Til then, readers, and welcome to September!

A Drive-Through Zoo?!? (and other fun NWA weekend activities)

Greetings! Want a weekend update? Good, ‘cause that’s what you’re getting. As I mentioned last week, two of my very best friends came to visit this weekend – Kevin and Vicky Henderson. Kevin graduated from Walton, too (or is almost there…he should be defending his dissertation in the next few weeks!). After he “graduated,” he took a job in Minnesota, and so he and Vicky don’t get to come see us very often anymore. Which means, naturally, that when they are here, we have to get as much Fayetteville in as possible. Well, that’s exactly what we did this weekend.

They got here Thursday evening and we had dinner and Orange Mango (a new frozen yogurt place on Dickson Street – it’s wonderful). They were pretty tired from their 9.5 hour drive, so that’s about all we did that night.

I had to work on Friday morning, but for lunch we had Taste of Thai (another one of my favorite restaurants in town), checked out the absolute adorableness that is Riffraff (a store on the square owned by a fellow U of A grad), and had cupcakes at Bliss. I had a lavender honey flavored cupcake and it was SO yummy – just the perfect hint of floral with this lovely, light honey-ish icing. Vicky had a chocolate-maple cupcake, and yes, that is bacon on top of it. It actually wasn't as weird as we expected it to be.

 Next, we stopped by the U of A bookstore. They have just opened a new location in the Garland Center (our new parking deck on campus), and it’s incredible. I know I’m using lots of “happy” adjectives today, but really, look at this place! There’s even a computer store (with Apple Genius support which is nice since the closest Apple store is in Tulsa), a coffee bar, and a Clinique counter!

 The best part of the weekend, though, might have been Saturday. We decided to drive to Gentry (yeah, I didn’t know where it was either) to visit the drive-through zoo (called the Wild Wilderness Drive-Through Safari). Okay, so, to be honest, when I heard “drive-through zoo” and “Gentry, AR” I figured it would be like a loop around a few acres where you might get lucky enough to see a few cows/deer/buffalo, maybe a camel or two. Well, I was wrong. Here’s a short list of some of the animals we saw: kangaroos, zebras, antelopes, giraffes, tigers, lions, bears (go ahead, say it, you know you want to…), baboons, hippos, crocodiles, rhinos, etc. The drive around the park took about an hour and a half. We would have to stop occasionally to let a camel/buffalo/deer/goose/zebra cross the road, and more than once we had emus walk up to the car and peck at our windows. Admittedly, there WERE cows, deer, and buffalo, so I wasn’t totally wrong.

 There was also a “petting zoo” type of area, but once again, not the kind you would expect to find in Arkansas. We petted kangaroos and held (and were bounced on by) capuchin monkeys (one named Chloe stole my hair clippie…I was not happy), baby baboons, a teeny-tiny, precious ring-tailed lemur, and two of the sweetest lion cubs ever. I could have stood in that corral and cuddled that cub for hours.

Oh, it was SO much fun. I would go back again and again. The entrance fee is only $10 and you can stay for as long as you like. And Gentry is only about 45 min from Fayetteville, so it’s an easy Saturday trip. I’d recommend it to anyone, no matter how old.

Despite our full day, we ended up going to a movie that night (it’s a Kevin and Vicky tradition). We saw The Other Guys. I’m actually not sure if I liked it…I laughed a lot…so maybe? It was…different.

Anyway, Sunday was very laid back. We had lunch, hung out at the house, and had dinner at Grub’s (a Fayetteville classic). Monday was slower, too. I had to work, so Kevin and Vicky spent the day running around town, seeing other old friends and doing errands. We met up after work at Rick’s Bakery (Vicky used to work there and it’s one of our favorite places to sit and talk) and had dinner that evening at Powerhouse (yet another Fayetteville classic). We spent the rest of the evening back at the house, dreading the fact that Kevin and Vicky had to leave the next day.

I also had to finish my internship reports – they aren’t perfect, but they ARE just drafts, so I can perfect the final version to my heart’s content. Once I have those results a little more nailed down, I share details on them, too.

Kevin and Vicky headed back north yesterday morning (sad day). We did get to have breakfast at Rick’s before they left, though, so that was nice. Now it’s back to the routine work week – reports, analysis, meetings, etc. I’m participating in something (potentially) fun today. I’ll let you know how it goes!

Business Plan Boot Camp, Day 2 (and more Birthday fun!)

Okay, I know I disappeared for like a week, but I did promise a Boot Camp update, so here you go. We had our second class last Saturday. The focus of this session was mostly plan analysis. We went through a copy of Biologics’ plan and “graded” it according to the Governor’s Cup rubric. Going about it that way allowed us to see what exactly was expected out of these plans – type of background info, research, planning and foresight, etc. This way, once we start the semester, we aren’t writing blind – we have some solid plans to look to for reference.

After lunch we discussed our assignment for the week. Dr. Reeves had charged us with identifying a “pain” in someone’s life – big or small, personal or public, solvable or not. We then had to explain whether we thought that our “pain” presented a viable business opportunity. The point of the assignment was to get us thinking like entrepreneurs – since that’s kinda the point of the class and all. The responses were all so varied – it was interesting to hear what some of our classmates came up with. It shed a little more light onto how everyone thought (which will be helpful for forming groups).

We also listened to a presentation from the on-campus patent office – he shared several technologies and ideas that the U of A has patented (or is working to patent) that could be turned into businesses. THIS was what we were all waiting for – the IDEAS! The atmosphere in the room changed after that presentation. You could feel people tense up – in that excited, semi-competitive, itching-to-get-going way. All of a sudden the class felt more real.

That night I went out with several people from class and a bunch of my other friends from Fayetteville to celebrate my birthday. We had dinner at Hammontree’s (complete with cake from Rick’s Bakery and fantastic brownie cupcakes with fudge icing), then spent some time at the Wine Cellar (one of my favorite places in Fayetteville).

Oh, but that wasn’t my only birthday celebration. At work on Monday, the office surprised me with a cake (and, of course, that embarrassing singing thing…is there anyone out there who doesn’t feel uncomfortable when an entire room of people sings to them? At least it’s embarrassing in a good way.) My office is so sweet – they really make me feel like part of the team.

Honestly, the rest of the week kinda drug by – full of excel crashes, heatstroke, and packing. Thursday was especially full – I had three meetings to attend, the CEO and SVP of Sales were in the office all day, AND we moved out of the apartment. Moving went smoothly, though, thanks to all the help – several guys from the program came over to help my roommate and me move the “big stuff.” Another perk of Walton’s smaller program – you make good enough friends that they’re willing to help you move your couches across town in 95 degree heat. Thanks, guys!

On a side note, Gigi did NOT help - she made messes all week. This was my favorite. I left her for five minutes and she killed an elephant...and strew it's fuzzy insides ALL over the living room...thanks, Gigi...that was lovely...

After that, the weekend was a welcome treat. It started off (early) Friday afternoon with an office pool party and BBQ (our boss scooted everyone out the door at 3pm – no one complained). One of the guys in the office has just moved into a new house, and he and his wife were gracious enough to have us all over for dinner. Most people even brought their families over, so I got to meet all the wives and kids (who spent the whole night in the pool). I’m starting to feel like a “real” employee at Dannon, not just an intern or a temp – it’s nice. I’m happy here.

The rest of the weekend flew by – unpacking, ice cream socials, laundry, surprise dinners with old friends, etc. Now the week has started up again, and it’s back to work. Nothing too exciting planned for this week – mostly trying to get the new place all set up (I’ll post pics when it’s done). Oh, and I’m going BACK to St. Louis this weekend (we’ve got family coming into town). Should be a fun time, I’ll keep you updated. ‘Til then, dear readers! Happy Tuesday!