Gratitude Day 29

1- Job possibilities. I found two new jobs today that could actually be a great fit for me. Both are with a nonprofit educational foundation. One is a trainer designer which basically works with the product team to develop training solutions that help educators improve student outcomes. The other is an educational consultant who interfaces with the customer and the product team to improve the plan and design of the product and the best way to train customers on the product. Yes they sound very similar except the first focuses on the business end and the second on the curriculum end. Lucky for me, I have the background for both.

2- MBA friends. When I was first considering the program, I asked a current student one reason why he would recommend it. He remarked that you get to go to school with 150 of your best friends. I didn't realize how true his statement was until today. One girl who I became good friends with emailed me today. I hadn't spoken with her since graduation. I was reminded how important these friendships are to me and that i need to do better in staying in touch with them.

3- Not commuting. Today I am grateful I did not have to commute to work. I remember all the snow days I had driving to and from my schools. The weatherman would predict a minor storm and it would pound us much like it did last night. Once the new year starts, I know I'll be picking up a commute of some kind. But today, I didn't have to drive in the snow.

Graduation Day

I graduated from MBA school last week. Lots of pictures were taken. Speakers were great! The Deseret News randomly chose me to interview and I ended up being the lead in the story. Here are some pictures commemorating the event:

MBA Golf Day

Last week I participated in the BYU MBA golf day. Some of you may be thinking, "You golf?" Yes and no. My brother taught me some golf techniques before he left on his LDS mission. I am quite handy with a pitching wedge and nine iron. Those were the two clubs that let me practice hitting back and forth across the field near our house without the ball going over the fence or hitting another house. But, I am digressing in the story.

People in the program signed up on teams of four. I realized my golf skills were far below amateur so didn't even bother looking for a team. Then I realized that each team could have a caddie. I found a team with my friends and asked to be their caddie. Basically my job was to move the golf cart and grab clubs as needed. Though I didn't golf, I had a really great time. We all laughed and joked throughout the day. Though our team didn't have the best score, we probably had the best time. I am going to miss all my friends. I've spent everyday for two school years with these people. It's going to be quite a shock next week after graduation when I no longer am in daily contact with them. I am grateful I took a leap of faith and applied for MBA school.

Kate and I at Sleepy Ridge Golf Course

Tender Mercies

We all have times in our life when we hit a wall and just don't know how to keep going. That is me right now. I'm exhausted with all that has happened the past two years of MBA school. Everything from accounting and finance classes to dating to internships to being engaged to breaking off the engagement to finding a job to getting sick week after week to planning my life. I'm worn out. The past few days I had given up. I skipped a group meeting and watched basketball with a friend and took a nap instead. I let important things slip like reading my scriptures. (This one really is brilliant. I bought a nice set of leather scriptures since my cheap set was quite worn and even had a bout with a paper shredder. My problem was (yes I know this is lame) I wanted to mark my new set but with the "right" colors and pencils and pens with the "right" topics. I hadn't found exactly what I wanted so I put it off day after day.) My actions definitely were not consistent with my values and beliefs.

Today a rebuke came in the form of tender mercies. I woke up not wanting to go to my ward. It wasn't church I was avoiding. Just my ward. I decided to go to stake conference in Gunnison. I walked in and saw my dad who lit up at the sight of me. I needed to see that love. The talks that were given all hit questions that were in my mind. One particular point was the powerful affect of women in the lives of others. Each speaker seemed to say something about the importance of women. I felt very distinctly the need to make a few course corrections to make sure I am a woman of influence, a woman of virtue, a woman of faith. I need to make sure I am lifting and building others and to make sure that the light of Christ is reflected in my countenance. Another point was the power of forgiveness in all its forms. I have made some choices in my life that many attribute as irrational. They don't understand why I have made these choices. The Lord knows and I felt overwhelming peace when reflecting on those decisions. One final tender mercy was the visiting authority. At the last moment the schedule changed and Elder Spencer J. Condie of the Seventy came instead of another member of the Seventy. I connected with a talk he gave years ago. Seeing and hearing him speak today reminded me that God knows me and God does remember his promises. I spoke with Elder Condie after the conference and once again, I felt an overwhelming feeling of peace from the Spirit of the Lord.

This morning I awoke with a weight on my heart and dread in my soul. This evening I feel hope in the future. Hope in the power of repentance. Hope in the miracle of forgiveness and the atonement. Hope in the knowledge that the Lord knows and remembers me. The Lord knew I needed to be in Gunnison today and when I wake up tomorrow, my resolve is to punch through that wall or climb over it or blast it to pieces or something. I won't let the uncertainties of life defeat me. I won't let the easiness of the way slow my pace. I won't let the stumbling blocks trip me. I will persevere because I have the help of the Lord.

PS - I pulled out the old, beat-up Book of Mormon a few days ago. I testify that reading the Book of Mormon daily gives us power to do all things.

AOG - Day 9

1- I am grateful for home evening. I usually avoid singles ward home evenings for no reason in particular. I just do. Last night I went and enjoyed getting to know new people in my ward.

2- I am grateful for the friendships I have made while here in Provo. I have met so many great people that are in the MBA program with me. I will miss these people when I finally graduate.

3- I am grateful for Costco. I am definitely in the Costco love group.

AOG - Day 5

1- I am grateful for my time at ASU and all I learned there. Right now I am using the material learned in classes for a project in MBA school.

2- I am grateful for the impression to stop at that green light because I didn't hear the sirens or see the fire truck that would have destroyed my car and me.

3- I am grateful for hugs. I like hugs. They make everything seem better.

AOG - Day 4

1- I am grateful for google documents which allows my team to work on a project without being in the same room. Project completed!

2- I am grateful for MBA friends and the good memories I have with them. Today it was disrupting all the students in the Blue Line as we sang Happy Birthday to four women in our program.

3- I am grateful for a good roommate who supports me even when she doesn't entirely understand why I do what I do. She is considerate and kind and wonderful!

Girls Just Want to Have Fun

I have officially registered for my last semester of MBA school. My friend Chloe held a pre-registration gathering at her place a few hours before registration opened. Somehow through the chatter and laughter, we girls ended up with side ponytails. Sometimes you just have to be silly.

What Did You Do This Weekend?

A Recap on Life

I realized I haven't been blogging much. Easy explanation for that: school has started. Here is a quick recap of life.
Disneyland
Huntington Beach
Moab with MBA Marketers

First Year Done!

Almost done

I have one more final due today at 4:00 and then my first year of MBA school will be completed! I finished the multiple choice on Monday but haven't had any motivation to do the case write-up. I can't put it off any longer. Time to get to work.

Light at the End of the Tunnel

I finally have an interesting update to share. I officially have an internship! It will be nice not to have that on my plate as I am finishing up semester projects. The company is called Allegiance and they are based in Salt Lake. They want me to start now but school gets in the way of that. :) So I'm "on-call" in the sense that they will keep me in the loop on email and I'll go into the office a couple of times to stay up to speed on the project. School is first and they know that.

My job will be to help them conduct focus groups with their customers and take those results to conduct a market research analysis to help the company know how others perceive their product and how to best tap into the underserved market. They already asked me to fly to Seattle and LA for a day each to help them with their focus groups. I am excited about this because I'll work directly with VP of Marketing, get to travel a bit, get paid!!!! (many of my classmates will probably have to take unpaid internships), and still be able to be part of all the fun here in Utah this summer.

I remember when Bank of America offered me a flyback the beginning of last October for their HR internship. I felt very distinctly not to take it. I didn't know why. It would have been a great internship, with great experience, and with a great location in North Carolina. I am grateful I listened to that prompting even though it created a lot of uncertainty about a summer internship. Life is full of unexpected detours but I am reminded of a phrase one of my religion teachers said: The Lord leads us to the path we would have chosen if we had realized it had been an option. I can testify that has been true for my life. The Lord has directed me and though the path has been difficult at times, it truly has been for my good.

Election Results

I decided I wanted to be more involved in the MBA program so signed up to run for an MBAA officer. After a long, hard fought race (actually a two day "vote for me" email campaign), I won VP of Communications. Basically, I'm the voice of the MBA program, which is a scary thought. Another new challenge, but an exciting one that I am looking forward to conquering. Good thing I loaded up on credits this semester. Gives me a lighter schedule next year.

Love Is a Battlefield

The women in the MBA program never fail to disappoint the Tanner Building. Our element of fun has reached new heights! Today we celebrated Pink Thursday in honor of Valentine's Day dressing in the most sappy garb possible with pink, purple, red, hearts, flowers, etc. Not only did we look smashing today, but we raised awareness of the MBA Women Love by making a spectacle of ourselves.

The first year MBA women!


The winner is Erin Page!


Cute girls in the program!

What Am I Going To Do?

My last final ended last night at 8:30PM. I had been there for almost three hours and had typed over five pages of material. When I left, 2/3 of the class were still there. In a 58 hour period, I was in finals almost 12 hours, had a little over 12 hours of sleep, and studied almost the rest of the time. I did take a study break and Andrew helped give me some semblance of sanity. Finals are now over! I survived my first semester of MBA school and am amazed at the changes and growth that have occurred in me. As a side note, I love self-reflection. It brings such peace realizing how the Lord has helped me accomplish difficult tasks that I didn't think I had the capacity to complete. Such a humbling thought.

Now on to the real reason for the post. I was laying in bed this morning, enjoying not waking up to an alarm or having somewhere I had to be, and created a list of all the things I needed/wanted to do now that I didn't have to study for classes. Here is my list:
1. clean my room
2. clean the house
3. organize and file my notes and assignments
4. balance my checkbook (I have been keeping track of my finances but haven't taken the time to balance my checkbook since October.)
5. write my Christmas card
6. decide what to buy people for Christmas and actually go buy it
7. go food shopping (In July and August I built up a food storage because I had the impression that I was going to need it. I thought it was because finances would become tight. No, no. I didn't have time to run to the grocery store. I think I went twice after school started. Now, I went to Costco every few weeks to get milk and a few other essentials, but never made it to the grocery store.)
8. drop off items at the DI that have been sitting in my closet
9. organize the piles that have built up (this is not part of cleaning room because the piles need to be filed in the folders in the basement)
10. start creating the family calendar
11. organize emails (I take emails I write to people and put them in my journal)
12. write on the backs or pictures and put them in an album (In September I went through my 2006 pictures and had Costco print them. Well, they have been sitting in a box on my floor since then.)
13. search companies that do not recruit at BYU and look for a summer internship
14. read a book Andrew lent me about Hugh Nibley and the 101st airborne
15. read other books that I am not assigned to read
16. actually talk to Suzy on the phone (She has called me a few times the past week and I just couldn't talk when she called.)
17. clean out my car (However, it is snowing outside and this one may have to wait)
18. take a nap (I think I deserve this one)
19. venture out into the real world and meet people outside of the Tanner building
20. go to the temple

And that is the list I came up with this morning. I don't expect to do this all today. Just my list of things I can concentrate on now that final are over. Happy day!

Be Right Back

I haven't written for a while because I am in the midst of finals. Lots to say but my mind can only speak NPV values, capital budgeting, pro formas, CAPM, cycle counting, safety stock, EOQ, EPQ, 4Ps, 5Cs, and human capital relations. After Wednesday, I'll be back.

MBA School

Gratitude - Day 18

1. I am grateful for my MBA family and the support I receive from them as I try to swim the waters of the program. Just when I am about ready to drown, one of them comes along, pulls me up, and begins swimming beside me. Last night one of my MBA family shared 2 Nephi 2:2: he shall consecrate thine afflictions for thy gain. Then he gave this insight, "The lord is waiting and ready to help, but sometimes he gives us challenges for our gain." I love my MBA family.

2. I am grateful for visits from Nettie. We have so much fun together and her timing is perfect!

3. I am grateful for the strength I see in others. My friend Mel is one of my favorite people. She teaches me so much through her example. I have seen her endure many trials and times of adversity. Her sister died tragically in May and now her mom has been diagnosed with cancer. With all that is happening around her, she still finds hope in the gospel. Thank-you for sharing your hope with me. “Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend.” (Mosiah 4:9)

Fall Colors

I went hiking last Friday with friends from MBA school. The mountains were covered in colors. I loved being outdoors and not stuck inside my four walled classroom. Isn't Utah beautiful?