Start Spreading the News

I'm leaving today. I want to be apart of it - New York, NEW YORK!!!
Actually I left Thursday night not today!! And I don't have time to BLOG, but I wanted to say where I am right now!!! As the song most appropriately says - NEW YORK!!! Okay, actually New Jersey at the moment...haha. But, I'm here to see my bestest friend Lexie and her husband Rob, and 3 boys!! We've already had TONS of fun, no sleep, messy children, and molestations... Long stories maybe to be shared later.

Here's a few pictures from back in 2002. Lexie was one of my best buds growing up and here are a few crazy pictures from back in the day. It's great that it feels like we can catch up and no time has past at all. (Except now 3 little boys and a big one are hooked with Lexie, so I can only steal her away for a little bit)... I'll update more when I'm back in the west. :) Hope you all keep singing - Start Spreading the News!!

L O L

Last Sunday I spent a few hours at my cousin Steph's house - doing the family thing :) I think I've said it a few times on here, but it sure is nice to be close to them!!

Well, Sarah, her 9 year old daughter was sitting at the table with us and I said something funny, I thought, but I can't necessarily remember, so I'll make my part up:

Me : "Sarah, you should eat your food or it's going to be sad that you didn't like it... hA HA ha!!"

Sarah looked at me with a puzzled face - thinking ???

Steph : "Andrea means LOL"

Sarah : "AHhhh... hahahhaha! Funny!!"

What is this world coming to today??? They don't know a joke unless you say "LOL" ??? I'm sure I said something that was funnier than the above, but I can't remember. But either way I laughed more at the response and that Steph knew what to say to help Sarah get it. It's times like these when I feel old...

Coffee

From 8:30 to 5 Monday thru Friday this is where I am....

And a bit closer and to the left....It's pretty clean right? Well, kinda. I have a "CUBE". It's big though, and I have lots of space....yet I always fill it up with too many papers. I don't really have any "personal" things except one picture of my former roommates and I in Park City last April. I should do better at that, but I guess maybe it's not my thing. Or I don't have a pic of my future hubby yet, or he'd be up somewhere if so...

Okay... and an even closer look at my desk... because this is why I am writing today: One reason I survive working here daily 9-5:

COFFEE!!! Okay, joking. If I drank coffee, I think I'd be an addict. Since a year ago (Happy 1 year at work to me today!!) - I've definitely milked this perk for all it's worth. Unless I had 2 or 3 cups a day - and maybe I could...hmmm... :)

So, it's not coffee but - - - HOT CHOCOLATE!!

It's great! I love actually putting the coffee creamers in it too. My favorite is Hazelnut, but I'd also go for the Almond one as well. I used to do Cider a bit, but now we have this fancy machine that just mixes and pours it all into the nice cup above, or a 16 oz cup, so hot chocolate calls my name about everyday. Really! It's so freakin cold in here anyway, I have to warm up, get a bit of caffine for the day, and feed my stomach if it's hungry. Yeah, I'm addicted. Good thing it's not coffee though right? Is is really that much better? All I can say is that Coffee smells bad to me, but if it tasted like the warm creamy chocolate that I'm sipping from right now, I might have had a problem.

** PS - what do you think of the last picture - it's taken on a different setting with my camera called soft lens. Is it just weird and blurry? I need a new camera because I want to take good pics! Ah!!!

Dancing

One of my favorite things to do is DANCE. Yup. I used to have spontanious dance parties with just me and my roommates many nights of the week. Sometimes it was a joke that when life was hard or something - Sarah and I would turn up the grooves and just get funky. Well, somehow it doesn't work as well when I live at home alone inbetween a condo above and below. I'm afraid I'm too loud. (Actually last night when I was playing my keyboard at midnight I got a bang on my floor because I guess I was too loud..haa...oh well, I was nice and stopped. A bit shocked that someone would actually pound on the ceiling, it wasn't in their bedroom or anything...c'mon guys...i guess I usually just ignore the noises).

Dancing can happen anywhere right? Lately this is where I've been seen busting a move:
- FHE Salsa dance lessons
- FHE after the Salsa dancing lessons while everyone was mingling (yes I was the one in the middle of the gym still going, and had an even bigger smile on my face doing it alone in a big space)
- FHE later that night when I was asked to catch some balls for baseball, yeah...I was still dancing in the outfield...
- At the GYM. Zumba class is normal to dance in with all the other ladies, but what about on the treadmill? YEAH, never seen that before. I think people must think I'm crazy, or have a limp, or just am too happy - cuz I'm always wiggling and walking to the beat on the treadmill if I'm really really in my dancing mood.
- In the elevator at work. Yep - what a secret right? It's nice to let it loose sometimes.
- Outside. This is what I did yesterday and I do usually during the summer months. I take my IPOD and while I'm walking or exercising (although yesterday I did that in the gym and then headed outside too) - I find a parking lot that is vacant (hopefully) - and get down with me and my IPOD. That makes me 100% happy. Really. REALLY. HAPPY.

Generally if I've got music, I'm happy. And I can't live without it. From the shower, to eating, to driving, to exercising, to at a baseball game, or ice skating, etc. I speak the language of MUSIC. I just wish I had more skills in it. But heck that don't matter, I still LOVE it. Every part of it.

My mom always said she could tell if I was happy because I'd be humming around the house or something - well, I can tell this week has been great because of that too. Thank you for happy days right?? !!!

TGIF!!! Happy Friday everyone. Turn up the music and just dance! It don't matter what people think of what you be doin. :)

Summer's coming

WOW. I've been too busy for BLOGGING. What has the world come to?? Not that I've been a blogger for very long though... I wanted to give a update on my Springtime this year so far...

1) Work is great! May 19th means I'll have been here for 1 year. And I'm LOVING it - TONS!! So, if work is good, everything else is lots better right? We're so busy - I'll have to update you more on all the funny stories and exciting stuff going on in another post. But, the short of it - I'm very busy and have lots of new little projects that make me feel important. And today during my annual performance review my boss just said wonderful things about me. It was nice to know that she feels like I really compliment her in my attention to detail and following up and through. I'm now supposed to work on a few 2009 goals, and focuses, but the hard part is that I want to learn it ALL. I told her I'm basically wanting to do stuff that isn't being taken care of right now or something... So, we'll see. And also Shannon and I are going to work on getting our PHR - which is a license and test thing that will strengthen my HR basic knowledge. So - WOW huh? No wonder I don't have time to blog! Haha. I'm doing it during my lunch and weekly payroll update call (sometimes those calls are so not informative or helpful...just a bunch of women arguing...)

2) Socially - life is great as well. I'm making friends in my new ward. I've planned a few outings or gone on a few - Michael Franti Earth Day concert in the SLC Gallivan Center; Jamba Juice and game night at guy in my ward's place (he called me to help him plan...not that I don't do enough planning for work or calling right?); and then an outing bowling with some ward peeps as well. As well as a Real soccer game with my best boy Jon, and BYU baseball and Provo visit with Emily and Jon too (but Emily denied a picture of that, so it's not below). Life has been crazy busy - with church, life, family stuff, etc... I'm not home too much the last 2 weeks. We had stake conference as well and I sang in the choir and we met at the Assembly Hall on the SLC Visitor's Center - that was amazing! And we went and did a session at the SLC temple as a stake and I loved that as well. I hadn't been to that temple since I went with my family.

Here are a few pictures of the Springtime. I just absolutely L O V E this weather. I've got to stay outside and not get burnt though. And then soon I'll probably say it's too hot, so I'm trying to really soak it up right now.

This is Katie above. She's just great! She's the RS President that I work with and also play with a lot of the days of the week... She's got the recent RM spirit still with her so that helps keep me in line :) And below are the rest of the crew I put together for bowling. I was pretty happy since I didn't think I had too many friends I could round up, but they came! Lara, her bro, David, Tess (Katie's roommate and another one I just love, but she just moved to Provo dang), Eric, and Jon. It was super fun! I almost won, dang Eric started getting good towards the end though.

So I haven't been eating the best lately - but I decided to start buying lots of greens and veggies and maybe someday I'll be good for the China diet thing, but for now, I loved the meal I whipped up one day - and took a lovely picture. It tasted pretty tasty :) Too bad I don't have anyone to cook for yet! They're actually pretty lucky seeing that most the time my dinners are like randomness of tortillas, chips and salsa, carrots, burgers, or nothing....

And then we've got the Real game on May 6th with Jonny boy and his friends. It was lots of fun, but the thing I missed was that the announcer didn't talk too much and so I had a hard time following. And no music - what is that? And Sean and Tony ended up being there sitting about 20 rows below me! Family close is great... Luckily at the baseball game there was music a few days later and Jonny showed up for that one too and he ate 2 hot dogs! I had one and the frozen lemonade I had been craving with Emily. Emily and I also spent the afternoon together chatting and played rockband, etc.

Sixteen candles

What did you guys do when you turned 16?? It's just great having relatives so close - I get to re-live those moments through my cousin's kids eyes. Nate turned 16 on April 24. He now drives a 1970ish something HUGE green truck. I guess I need to take a picture of it. It's a beast, but totally great for him now that he knows how to drive it. Steph almost killed me the other day in it as well - it's not power steering, so it takes muscles and more attention - which if you put Steph and I in a car, we don't got much attention...

Anyway, back to 16 right? Yeah. Nate's a lucky ducky... his parents threw him a surprise party. Dang, I've always ALWAYS wanted a surprise party - hasn't happened yet (wink wink). But not just games and food... no, his uncle Jeff DJ'ed and they had a fire pit, tent (cuz it was raining) and big dance party out in the backyard. I'm pretty sure the word was spread because there were tons and tons of little 16 year olds. And when I say little - actually, I felt like I was classified as one of the 16 year olds sometimes that night! I totally felt like I was one of those gals. Anyway, luckily that time has come and gone. But I sure wouldn't mind a party like that!! I mean, if I had people who were 24 like me there, then we'd have been jumping and dancing all night long. Anyway again.... Nate was completely surprised - he thought the familly and a few friends were going bowling, but once he saw either the cars or the fans in the backyard, and Jeff played the infamous "Hey Shorty, it's your birthday, we gonna party like it's your birthday..." The party got started. Here are the pics below:
What is Nate wearing? Those crazy shorts - someday he'll die laughing when he see's this :)

Side note - at first there were like 25 girls to 5 guys at the party. Nice odds for the boys except they seemed not as interested - more into partying to the ghetto music and laughing about boy stuff. I was surprised at the music they asked Jeff to play. I already had to tell him to edit his stuff, but couldn't believe the stuff these 16 year olds wanted to listen to!! Aghhh. And I was actually MORE appauled later as well... So, basically I was a chaparone or something, and would go out and watch the dancing and at first even danced a bit or tried. Then after awhile I'd just help Jeff DJ and get the boys to back off of him. But all the sudden I looked at the dance floor and I see a few girls dancing like they were 25 or 30 or just gross! Oh my gosh!! Like getting their freak on with each other or something - pretty provocative. I was SHOCKED. I can't explain what more I felt except that these are little girls and the boys are feeling uncomfortable with how they are dancing! AHhh... Am I just old?? I was 16 like 9 years ago - and I NEVER ever would have been like that. But maybe I was just nieve. Can a few years make the world so much more wicked? Yes probably. And also I keep thinking - oh my gosh one day I will have girls and kids like this who will see stuff so much worse! Ahhh..sick! I'm going to lock them up in the house till they are 21. Okay, not really, but my poor kids. But seriously, watch out if you head to 16 year old parties...cover your eyes!!!

I love these guys above. Andy and baby Jill and Hailey - my cousins!! It was fun spending time with them and teasing each other.

And a close up of Uncle Richard. Eating a sloppy joe. He and Jan came, it was great to see them there even though the music was sooo loud :) And below are the other chaparones or neighbors chatting it up.

And I had to get a few of baby Jilly. She's such a cutie. Andy let me babysit her before the party got started... Who could be more adorable or getting a bit chunky?? Cute!! I totally want a BABY!!! I gotta stop that one. Don't worry, soon enough I'll get over it :)

Why do you want to work for us??

Interviews. Yay! Check something else off of my education to do list!! Okay, still lots to learn, but still...

It was an exciting week last week...our HR department will be reorganizing a bit, and as such, we are hiring an HR Director to manage our SLC site while my boss moves up the ranks. Since sometimes we hire people that are crazy, my boss wanted Shannon and I to be part of the interviewing process. Wow!

I set up the interviews for each candidate, organized all the VP schedules to meet with them in a group interview, and then scheduled Shannon and myself to meet with the candidates as well. (breathe Andrea!) And it all worked according to plan!! Success! I was a bit nervous and started researching 100's of questions to ask on an interview. I've got a pretty good list now. But, man - widdling it down to just a few is a bit hard too. Shannon and I went in together and really only asked a couple questions each. Really to me, the questions we're just means to getting a feel for the person. People we interviewed were qualified, we just want the "best fit" - so I was more concerned about whether this person will be motivated, honest, fun, and maybe not be crazy like the last girl we let go in recruiting...

Okay so I don't necessarily have all the experience necessary after doing some interviews - but I sure enjoyed it. And it was also pretty exhausting as well. Just like interviewees have to be energetic and stuff, we too have to listen and try to feel out how this potential really could be. But, I liked it, and especially liked hearing the view points of the VP's and my boss after as well - and interestingly enough, we were usually catching the same things and on the same wave length. We haven't hired anyone yet, and we'll leave that up to my boss to decide.
A funny moment was when, before the 2nd day of interviews, our legal group next to us asked Shannon and I what the new Director of HR would do. I replied - hmm...not sure exactly! HR stuff... HAHA, dude, how can I be interviewing for a director position of stuff I have not learned yet?? (It get's funnier)... Then Shannon explained a bit more about how she thinks HR is doing a bit of reorganizing and that this director would be over her and I and take care of the SLC daily HR stuff. - Special Pause at this moment in the conversation for me to think and then let this hit me - WAIT!!! What??? We're hiring someone who's going to be our boss?? No way! What about Jayne (my boss now)...!! Okay so Shannon didn't know for sure, but later on it was confirmed - yes, this new person will be my boss and then Jayne will be their boss. SO - Maybe I want to do those interviews over again?? No wonder Shannon felt so awkward interviewing - cuz these people could be our boss!!! Ha, I was just going in and having fun thinking they'd just be on our HR team...la di da...

Maybe I want to ask them different questions!!:
- Can I still come in at 8:30ish and take a hour lunch and leave by 5?
- Can we sometimes duck out for movies or run an errand as needed?
- Are you desiring to help further my HR learning?
- Are you going keep our HR team lookin good or crazy and mean?

Okay, maybe those questions wouldn't be the best...huh... Funny though because I do feel a bit different about the candidates knowing they would be my boss. I liked one in particular since she was so smart and on top of it, but I could see a Nazi side to her now thinking about her over me....well, guess we'll see what everyone decides. Any way it goes it will be fun to say, yeah, I interviewed you - and yes, I had never done those before!! But, now I have :)

Side note: We do Relief Society visits 2x a week for my church. 3 gals and myself are in the presidency and we decided we wanted to try and visit ALL the 70+ gals. So, it's been great so far actually. It's neat to see so many different personalities and maybe make friends. And funny because last week after all these HR interviews I went into these "RS Visits" a heck of a lot different. I felt like I wanted to ask different searching questions and then was trying to read their answers a bit more. So, why did you want to be in our ward? What are some of your accomplishments? Yeah, that probably wouldn't have been the best friendly approach huh?? But, it was funny! How do these interviewers do it??
Side note to my side note: The only complaint about these visits is that I have to do all the scheduling!! Really, like it's a daily effort to contact and remind these girls we're coming to visit and coordinate us 4 along with the person we're visiting!! Last night it was enough to put me over the edge when another guy in the ward called and said - can you help me get a group together to play games tonight?? Honestly - do I have a sign that says - I can help you with your scheduling?? Or maybe I'm just sooo good or sooo loved that people can't plan things without me? That would totally be okay then. I'll just tell myself it's that so that I won't poke my eyes out!!

If I had kids....

HA ha HA!! Hillarious. Happy Friday everyone!

Okay...one more, since recent Swine Flu craziness - badly informed precautions are happening everywhere - slaughtering of pigs in Egypt, and others - at least the one thing that is a good idea - wash hands and stay home if you are sick (people need to do a bit of reading.... PIGS aren't carrying the flu)

If I had PIGS....