First Week

So today concluded my first full week of work at the Phoenix. To be honest, I still don't know how i feel about the job. As of now, I'm not as happy with it as I thought I would be... what a shame, right?

Things I don't like about this job:

-long commute to work; anywhere between 45 mins-2 hrs, ONE WAY, is what I've experienced so far.

-the traffic is just terrible. Absolutely terrible. I feel like it's taking a huge toll on the car too. I've noticed the breaks squeaking more and more.. worse and worse...louder and louder...

-I still don't understand/know how to do this job!

-long freaking days. I get there anytime between 8:45-9:30 and the earliest I will ever get to leave (unless with permission) is 6:00. But that's getting out on time. This past Tuesday, which is the busiest day because so many things go out to the printer, I was there until 8:45pm. And I got home at 10. Only to wake up at 6:45 the next morning, as I do every morning...

-It's a pretty big company and I don't know who people are. Everyone tells me to talk to so and so, or email so and so and I have no idea who that is, or what they do in the company so I don't know why it's important that I talk to them about certain issues.

-It's actually rather boring work. It's pretty much the same stuff all the time, just wicked confusing. I am so lost with everything that I do there. And it doesn't help that I am always so tired. It's so hard for me to concentrate on what I am doing or retain any of the information that these people are telling me.

-I get home, eat a late dinner, have just a little while to relax, and I'm in bed by 10 at the latest!

I just want to fast forward at least a month to see if my feelings change. I hope they do. This job seemed so cool from the outside! Something to do with my college degree, IN Boston, 2 blocks from Fenway Park nonetheless, and it's a salary job. I thought it would be exciting, and fun, or at the very least INTERESTING. But unfortunately it's not very interesting. At least not right now.

At lunch time today one of the girls in my department said she was going out with some other girls and I was welcome to join them. I needed to buy my own lunch anyways so I said sure! Great way to meet some new people and feel more comfortable.. So we go to this restaurant called The Elephant Walk. It's Cambodian and French cuisine, about a 10 min. walk from the office. We get there, tell the host we're there for the so and so party and he leads us to the back dining room where I find out that it's an informal little baby shower lunch for one of the women at the Phoenix. Talk about awkward....

Thankfully I already met this pregnant lady but other than the girls I came with, I didn't know anyone else and there were no introductions made. So I felt very out of place. Just before the lunch was served one of the girls asked from across the table who I was. I'm sure none of them had ever seen me before and were wondering who this random girl was...

So anyways, the lunch was served. The food was amazing. We ordered an appetizer of Cambodian spring rolls (so much better than the Chinese restaurants) and then I ordered a French meal for my entree. It was Poulet something. Don't even ask me the other 4 words in the title. But it was like a little salad (just lettuce but with amazing dressing on it) potatoes au gratin (aaamazing!) and a chicken breast/thigh combo. It seemed to be fried and then there was an amazing sauce over all of it. I gobbled it all up!

After presents were over, our time there had pretty much reached 2 hours since we left the office. ...OOPS! But I guess that's one of the good things about this job. They are really laid back about what you do with your time there as long as all the work is completed on time. I can surf the web any time I want, or take a long lunch if needed, or go out for a coffee anytime I want.

So anyways, I guess that's all I have to say about the job aspect of my life out here. This is a pretty long post, but since I don't get to talk to y'all about it in person I guess writing long-winded posts is the next best thing.

Until next time...

New Job

So I started my new job on Wednesday at The Boston Phoenix as a Traffic Coordinator. For those who don't know what that is (I sure didn't even when I applied to the job.. it just sounded fun!), I basically take orders for advertisements for the publication, put them into the system and then make a "map" of the set up of the publication with the ads and the editorial pieces all put together. Then I send it off for someone else to physically put it together on the computer then send it to the printers. I'm sure later on down the road I will learn how to do this and I will ultimately be making the entire publication myself (aside from the ads and writing the editorial pieces).
My first day was great. I was taken out to lunch with my group (4 of us including the manager) to Game On (this is where Colin and I had dinner right after we got engaged). Since Game On is right next to Fenway Park, I realized that I think I'm beginning to fit in here; it didn't phase me at all that we were eating lunch with a view of America's Most Beloved Ballpark...
Anyways, I sat with this girl Lisy (although she's not really a girl because although she looks like she could be my age, I think she might be late 20s...?) and she basically did her job which is what I will be doing too. It was a lot of information all at once but no one here expects me to really know anything or do anything on my own for a while.
I think the thing that bothers me the most is how frustrating it is not knowing how to do things. I know this will all come with time, but just a week ago I had a job where I was the "go-to" girl for everything jewelry related. I was the only one in that department that knew what/when/where/why/how things were done. And now I'm back down at the bottom, feeling useless! So it's not really that I'm overwhelmed, I just want to fast forward a month from now when I actually know and understand my job!
Today is Friday and it's a very very very slow day. I've been given a few orders to enter into the system and I've done them all with only a few minor mistakes. Apparently I'll be getting more later...
So there's my first (half) week at my new job! Looking forward to this weekend. Colin is a groomsman in one of his best friend's wedding so we will be having fun on Saturday! Maybe I'll get some ideas for my wedding!
Until next time...

Patriot's Day

So Monday was Patriot's Day, a Massachusetts State holiday. Colin normally has Mondays and Tuesdays off from work, and since I don't start my new job until Wednesday we decided to have ourselves a day of fun (even though all our days together are fun!). We watched the beginning of the Sox game and after having lunch we went to Patriots Place in Foxboro to do some shopping and see the new military exhibit in the Pats Hall of Fame. I bought a new pair of khakis to wear to work and new Sox and Pats decals to put on my new car (well, my mom's old car; thanks mom for that!) and while we were in EMS we overheard some other shoppers and an employee talk about how they were letting people on the field at the stadium for the day! So, obviously we hustled out of there and made our way to Gillette. Apparently they were doing a promo where if you purchased at least $25 worth at Patriots Place then you and whoever you were with could go on the field to hang out, take pictures, play some football, etc. Luckily my new pants were $30 so we were able to walk on the turf at the greatest football stadium there is! Now we realized why there were SO many people there with their kids all wearing Pats jerseys. Colin joked saying that you could tell who all the out-of-towners were by who was wearing the jerseys because to people in the area, this isn't a huge deal. But when we realized that the field was open and obviously a great time for pictures, then that was why everyone had their team gear on.

Afterwards we went to the hall of fame to see the new exhibit about the NFL and its ties with the military. The biggest thing being the Pat Tillman showcase; the Arizona Cardinals starting safety who dropped out of the NFL to join the US Army and was killed in Afghanistan. Colin really enjoyed the exhibit and it's going to be there until Memorial Day.

After this we went to CBS scene for an appetizer and we tried some fried calamari which we both liked. Then we came home and hung out until the Bruins game and ordered some pizza and buffalo wings for dinner.

And that was how I spent my Patriot's Day/Marathon Monday!

the next chapter in my life...

So I was born and raised in Longmeadow, Mass. I never really thought much about leaving the area until I went away to college at Westfield State College. Almost everyone I met was from the Eastern part of the state and as I would travel out to visit them throughout the years on summer and winter vacations I grew to really love that part of the state. Somewhere between Boston, Cape Cod and those cute little accents, I knew that some day I would want to move to south east Massachusetts.

Well, luckily my wish of moving out here was solidified when I met, began dating, and am now engaged to be married to Colin MacEachern, who I met at Westfield State. His job as a corrections officer at Walpole means we have to be in the eastern area when we are married, so I began looking for jobs out in the Boston area. Nearly a year after graduating with a Communications degree I finally landed a full time position at an entertainment publication company called The Boston Phoenix. My title is Traffic Coordinator so my job is to put the advertisements and the articles all together to make the actual publication. I start on Wednesday, April 21 and am excited and nervous at the same time.

Before all this happened, I was miserably working at Sears in the jewelry department. It took The Phoenix about 2 months from the first scheduled interview to finally get back to me about hiring me and by the time they did, I had to give Sears a one-week notice, and move out to Colin's father's house in Attleboro, MA all in just a few short days. I had to take my one day off to run around and cancel my gym membership, close out my bank account, etc. It was all happening so fast. Moving out east had been something I've wanted to do for many years and finding a new job was definitely something I wanted to happen ever since day one at Sears. And yet for some odd reason, something was happening with me. I was very emotional about packing up half my life and moving across the state. It was hitting me that now I am an adult and I'm doing adult things now. This is the beginning of a whole new life ahead of me. This is the beginning of my life as a 508 resident! No more 413. It was very hard for me to embrace the big change happening in my life.

Throughout the years when I dreamed of moving, I just thought about how awesome it is out in Eastern Mass and how much fun I'll have being so close to all my friends and Colin and all the other excitement that this area has to offer. I never thought that it also meant leaving the nest, and my awesome parents, and the town I grew up in and have so many memories with. So moving day was an emotional roller coaster to say the least. I cried all morning, but then I talked to Colin's sister Katie and in an instant she filled me with the feeling of excitement that I was lacking that had once been in me when I thought about moving out here.

So now it's been 24 hours and I'm all settled into my new home with my new family-in-law (well, soon to be at least...) and I feel a lot better. And if I ever get sad again, I got enough cable channels to keep my mind occupied...hehe
And so begins, the next chapter in my life...













Here are some pictures of my new room...