An Announcement regarding Busy Season

So friends, here we go.  I’ve been putting this announcement off for a while.  Part of me thought that I wouldn’t do it justice.  The other part of me felt bad.  I mean, I started this blog to help myself (and you guys!) get through the typical Big 4 Busy Season… and now?  Well you’ve probably noted an increase in wedding posts, and a decrease in “Surviving Busy Season” posts.  (deemed reasonable.  wfp.  audit jokes anyone??)  Anyway…

…I’m not working for the Big 4 anymore.

Yes, friends, it’s true.  In November I made the decision to leave my job as a public accountant, and have since joined with a large public cable company headquartered in Philadelphia.  (You may have heard of it…)

[source]

I got a job at “Kabletown”in their Internal Reporting group.  It’s a great job, as I loved the financial reporting period during our audits.  And while I’m not quite working for Jack Donaghy, I’m still so happy here in Kabletown.  Everyone is so nice (my manager allowed me to take time off around the holidays, even though I didn’t have any vacation time accrued!), the benefits are amazing, and my work-life balance is vastly improved.

Speaking of work-life balance…  I know that of the like 5 visitors I get to my blog, most of them are looking for posts regarding Busy Season.  For now, you all can visit the posts I’ve written about Surviving Busy Season, here.  And I promise that I’ll add more healthy recipes and other tips for surviving.  Regular Corporate America is n0t much different than Public Accounting, we just don’t have to bring dinner.   I’m still struggling to work out in the morning, and bring my lunch – and eat healthy dinners for that matter!  (In fact I think I took better care of myself last busy season than I did for the rest of the year!)

And I know there are a lot of you out there going “But you were barely a senior!  You should have stayed until Manager!”  Trust me, you weren’t alone in thinking that.  Or saying it to me.  But guys, I just wasn’t happy.  Busy season turned into an almost year-round event for me, and I didn’t have any time to live.  I needed to make a change, so I did. 

I want to go into more detail about how and when and why to quit a job, but I’ll work that into another post.  For now, just know that you can make a change in your life without spontaneously combusting.  (This is something that I struggled with for a long time.)  And if you’re looking for inspiration, check this out.  I saw this post from Carrots n Cake highlighting the Holstee Manifesto when I was still thinking about quitting, and it really spoke to me.  I hope it speaks to you too

Snow-ga

Oy vey! 

I have been neglecting you bloggies again, and I really apologize!  We got hit AGAIN with snowmaggedon v 2.0, and my life has been a whirlwind of snow!  But first let’s back up…

Remember this…?

Yesterday morning I brought my car to the body shop to get the repair process started.  Showing how much of a novice I am at this whole car-accident thing, I totally thought the repairs wouldn’t be more than a few hundred dollars.  I couldn’t believe it when I saw the estimate!  We’ll put it this way… I’ll need a rental car for TWO WEEKS.  Whoa!  Thankfully the insurance company will be taking care of it. 

Since I had my estimate appointment before work in the morning, I opted against the gym to save time.  I chose to do the “Yoga for Runners” podcast from yogadownload.com.  I was floored by the routine - it wasn’t overly hard, but felt kinda tough at 6am   I was even a little sore when I woke up today… I guess I need to pump up that lower body strength!

Work was rush rush rush so that we could get home before the snow.  We left “early” at 7ish, and I high-tailed it to the SJU basketball game.  Who cares about a little snow?!  Plus I got to park right on campus, and I had flashbacks to night classes on campus.  I grabbed this shot of my favorite building in the snow…

This morning I woke up to a whole new fresh blanket of snow, and the decision was made to work from home.  Gotta love having work-issued laptops, right?  Ugh.  Robert was home too, and we worked together in our pj’s.  It was a fun day as far as work days could go – but I wouldn’t have minded being able to go play in the snow again!  We had big plans to walk to the gym at lunchtime, but they were closed   I couldn’t sit still anymore, and busted out another yoga podcast to shake out my limbs.  I settled on the Gentle Hatha Flow #2 from yogadownload.com, as I didn’t really want a full blown workout, I just needed to open up and relax.  You guys - I love yoga.  I feel silly doing it sometimes, but once I actually get down to it, it’s always worth it.  I love how loose and calm I feel afterwards, and I think I’ll sleep well tonight as a result! 

Anyway, thats really all that’s gone on for the past few days.  yoga + snow, snow + yoga… hopefully the snow is still a nuisance in the morning so we can crash in our pj’s again!  Even if I have to work from home, it’s still better than working from the office!

Gratitude Journal 2.10.10

1)  I am so thankful that I made it home from the game safely last night.  There were a few hairy encounters with a hill and the curb, but somehow I made it.

2) I am eternally grateful for my fiance for digging my car out (as I type!) just in case we have to go into work tomorrow.

3) I am thankful for the homemade strawberry pancakes Robert made this morning!  Perfect work-from-home breakfast

Surviving Busy Season: Deal with it

Yesterday wasn’t a good day. 

(Whoa did anyone just have flashbacks to their 4th grade diary?!)

Yesterday was one of those days that I knew was just going to suck.  Bad hair day, bad commute day, and it was Monday.  Nothing good comes of that combo.

The first part of the day was fine.  I was grumpy, but it was Monday after all.  Then I get an instant message from my Senior Manager: “can you call me at xxxx?” 

Oy.  When I called, he even said “well you probably know by now that a phone call from me is never really a good thing,”  and I think I saw my life flash before my eyes.  But really what he was doing was paying me a “compliment.”  You see, it has been decreed that since I “am such a good staff,” I will be spending the next 6 weeks of busy season splitting my work hours between two jobs in two separate locations.  This will require longer hours, and more stress to get everything done by all of our deadlines.  It’s a very inefficient situation, but one that tends to happen when there are so many jobs going on in the office at the same time.  They don’t call it busy season for nothing! 

This of course caused me stress to think about, but I put it on the back burner to think about after work.

Jump 3 hours ahead to “after work.”  I’m walking back to the parking lot with a friend, and like a 5 year old go “OHMIGOD I PARKED NEXT TO YOU!  HOW FUN!” (note the foreshadowing.)  We walk up to our cars, and they are literally 6 inches away from each other.  (disclaimer: i am a GOOD driver.  i am a meticulous park-er.) 

I’m holding my key in one hand and thinking to myself “if I’m holding my key, how could someone have moved my car?”  when it clicked.  Someone… or something…. must have pushed my car.   

Yes, someone ran into my PARKED car in the lot last night… at what looks to be approx 35 mph!  The guard at the lot said that the man was backing into a parking space, and missed.  Maybe he didn’t miss – maybe he just wanted my spot?  I don’t know!  Either way, this was the last thing I wanted to see at 9:45 last night.  And I might have freaked out a little bit.  But then I had a break through.  This wasn’t the end of the world.  I decided what I needed to do…

I let myself break down in the car a little, enough to get it out of my system.  Then I [wo]manned up, and dealt with it.  I started to look at the positive in things – this new opportunity at work will give me the chance to work on a hedge fund, which I’ve never done before.  I’ll be working with people that I’ve only met once or twice, which will give me the opportunity to develop new relationships.  My car wasn’t totaled, it just had a few dents.  The parking lot attendant had filled out an incident report and gathered the driver’s insurance and contact information.  And I wasn’t in the car at the time – I was alive, and still able to drive home.  These are the things that matter.  Yesterday really put things in perspective for me.  Busy season will be over in a few weeks – it doesn’t matter if I have to work late for a little while.  I need to deal with the things that don’t actually matter, and focus on enjoying my life!

Gratitude Journal 2.2.10

1)  I am grateful for one of my best friends from work who stayed with me while I took pictures and hugged me while I freaked a little, even if it was 17* outside.  And grateful that my car didn’t end up getting pushed all the way into hers!

2)  I am grateful for the parking lot attendant who was able to get all of the driver’s information for me. 

3)  I am grateful for the insurance companies (no, seriously!).  They have handled this whole issue, and made it so easy for me.  I have never been in an accident, and didn’t know what to expect.  This process has been much more efficient than I ever would have guessed.

4)  I am grateful that it was sushi night at work   yum!

p.s. the source for the picture above is this:  artsy fartsy on etsy.  my linking got all messed up, so I didn’t source it above.