Looking Ahead

"When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bonds. Your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you find yourself in a new, great, and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive, and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be." - Patanjali 

Today, I became inspired! Recently, my mind has  been on my future in school because registration is right around the corner.  I've been attempting to crunch in as many hours each semester from here on out in order to graduate by May 2013. I've pretty much been decided on majoring in marketing and just doing a minor in accounting. I can technically make it all work so that I am out after my 4th year of school, buttt today I got thinking. In order to major in accounting, I would only need 5 more classes (after the minor), which means 1 full semester... um, hello... why shouldn't I do that? That would mean I would be a double major in marketing and accounting... i like the thought of that "Megan McFarland.... BBA in Marketing and Accounting" :) lol

Although I have been extremely eager to graduate and get a job making REAL money, I've been thinking that it'd be better to stay in school for an extra semester for the following reasons:

1. I don't have to be in the "real world" a semester sooner

2. There really aren't that many jobs out there anyway. I do NOT want to graduate and have to resort to accepting any job just to get me by in the meantime

3. My tuition and all would still be covered for me (I can't even explain how gracious my great grandpa is for helping us grandchildren out)

4. Even though I'd be making "real money" if I'd graduate sooner, I'd be having to pay "real bills"

5. I don't wanna grow up :(

So, I think it would be justified if I extended my stay at Sam Houston. I think that double majoring would be awesome so that I have so many more opportunities for me out there (hopefully). Yes, it sucks to be a poor college student for that much longer, but I actually do like school (call me crazy), so why not do it while I don't have many obstacles in my way. Just need to keep my momentum and finish strong. I have a feeling by the time I get to this time next year I will just be saying get me out of here, I don't care about having 2 majors, but hopefully I'll motivate myself to keep on keepin' on. 

Random Writings

"Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole." -Roger Caras

So, I know I talk about Ralph entirely too much but it really is crazy how happy he makes me, like foreal. This weekend, he stayed one night at my dads and it was the loneliest night ever for me :( Baby Ralph always cuddles with me every night, so it was a little sad to not have him by my side. Anyways, tonight when I went to HEB I finally came across Frosty Paws- the dog ice cream! And let me tell ya, it's a hit with Ralph. Poor thing was shivering and shaking from his head to toe as he was eating it, but he couldn't keep himself away. He's addicted now. But at least I can eat ice cream and not feel so guilty since he's eating it with me :)

I found a couple scarf ideas on Pinterest that I want to make come to life. (Anyone that is not on Pinterest should be... go to Pinterest.com) Everyone should stay tuned because I will be posting pics of the finished scarves as soon as I can figure out how to thread a sewing machine haha. I learned how to sew like 10 years ago with my grandma, but somehow I have totally forgotten how to even thread the thing. Anyways, once I get that worked out, I will make these scarves and they're adorable. I'm hoping to make a few and sell them for extra money... that'd be nice! 

So school is pretty stupid as usual. I think that all of the professors have a meeting at the beginning of each semester to plan all of their tests/assignments to fall on the same days so that they can see who's standing at the end. I will be standing at the end, but I will probably not have a smile on my face lol. When it rains, it pours, right? That's whats happening. I have 3 tests and 1 project due on Halloween... who does that? Speaking of Halloween, me and my friend Ashleigh have the cutestttt halloween costumes planned, but I don't want to give it away so you will also have to stay tuned to see what we are :) I'm excited about it! Other than doing all this schoolwork and testing and all, this weekend I'm interning with the event planner that I usually work for. It's my first wedding to intern at so I'm excited, shall be fun. As long as I'm not sitting there stressing out about all the tests I should be studying for, which I probably will be doing, knowing me. Idk why this post has no continuity, maybe its cuz my brain has been working for 12 hours now and I can't put together complete thoughts because I'm still thinking about how to calculate the amount to record to the bad debt expense account from the % of credit sales. Yuck. 

Siamo In Italia!

"A man who has not been to Italy, is always conscious of an inferiority, from his not having seen what is expected a man to see." --Samuel Johnson

"I've never been out of the world... wait... I mean, the country" -- Me hahah

I haven't written in so long! My life has been so entirely busy since school started... sometimes I don't even feel like I have time to tie my shoes. I'm working 2 jobs and taking 16 hours of school... not fun. Andddd me and Cole are about to try to put up Christmas lights for extra money starting in November, so add 1 more job to the mix. I think I've always been a little used to having a lot on my plate... just maybe not this much lol. BUTTTTTTTTTTT it's all okay, ya know why? Cuz I'm going to ITALY IN MAYYYY! I can't wait :)

223 more days until I take my first international trip EVER and I can't believe that it will be to Italy because that has always been the #1 place I've wanted to visit. Ok, so let me give u the details... Me, Cole, Abby, and Reid (Abby's bf) will be going to this beautiful country in May for 10 days after me and Cole finish the Spring semester. From our tenative plans, we are going to be staying in Venice, Florence, and Rome and other than those places, we will visit the island of Capri, and then maybe Milan... but I'm not sure about Milan, I can't remember. Anyways, since the day I found out that I would be going there, I have been researching, dreaming, and learning :) I downloaded a bunch of apps on my phone that help with language translation, so before long I will be speaking Italian (but not fluently) hahah. Oh, and for the purpose of the trip, these are our new names: I am now Messalina, Cole is Colmazio, Reid is Renzo (that one's my fav) and Abby is Abbondanza (but I might change her name, cuz it's a mouthful). Needless to say, I MIGHT be a little excited...

You know what my #1 HAVE TO DO THING is while I'm in Italy? This: 

Riding in a gondola in the canals of Venice. Like, you can feed me all the amazing pasta and incredible gelato, and take me to see the Colisseum, but if I leave Italy without riding in a gondola I will be sooooo disappointed. Idk why, it's just always been a dream of mine.

So yes, aside from riding in the gondola, we will be.... visiting all the main "must see" sites of Italy, eating all the carbs we can handle, drinking wine (and hopefully visiting a winery), shopping little markets in the cute cobblestone streets, biking in one of the towns (and i totally think we should rent a mo-ped as well), seeing world famous art and buildings, eating cute little pastries and of course, eating gelato!

The only problem with all of this is... I've gotta focus on school and work in the meantime. But that's ok, because whenever I have downtime I will be imagining that day in may where I embark on my 16 hr flight overseas to visit the place of my dreams! :)

Opened Doors & Closed Doors

"Whenever one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us." -Alexander Graham Bell

I think this quote pretty much summarizes my life. I am always looking at the closed door and thinking of what I did wrong or "what if I would have done this" or "I should have stuck it out longer"... and I think about these things so much that I can't embrace the opening door (opportunity) that is right in front of me. I would love to say that I can close a door and not think twice about it, but I find myself doubting my decision to close it for so long. This has always happened to me, I feel like. I have closed the door on big things in my life like gymnastics, Baylor, and finally my last job and to this day, I STILL question my motives for doing so. I mean, there are plenty of things that I have left and it was so easy in doing so, but I feel as though the trouble with the gymnastics, Baylor, and my last job is the fact that I put my entire self into these things. Maybe not so much with Baylor, but definitely with gymnastics and my last job. I would have done anything to succeed, I would work at either of these things day after day hour after hour because they were something that I enjoyed doing and I didn't mind putting ALL of my effort into them, however the day came where I no longer enjoyed these things as much as I used to and I decided to shut the door. 

So I guess it would seem kinda evident that the closed door I'm struggling most with now is my previous job. I do not miss the drama at all, but I do miss my actual job. I loved every part of it and would have gone above and beyond to make things happen there, but the environment was so incredibly toxic to me. I had probably stuck it out longer than I ever should have in the first place. So in all of this, I am really just trying to find closure. I am trying to make myself realize that even though the job was awesome and I loved what I did, there were things that far outweighed the good and I did make the right decision. And in my mind, I do know that i truly made the right decision for me. It's just hard knowing because that was my life... my work and my school. 

But on the positive end, I'm pretty certain that I have another job headed my way... and it is doing the same exact stuff that I did at my last job. I am waiting on the offer letter, but have already interviewed for it and all. So I am pretty excited to have this opportunity since it is doing what I already know that I love to do. It is still in the apartment world that I am comfortable with and it is still involving event planning. :) The funny thing is, I was given the opportunity to have this job about 3 or 4 months ago because I was unhappy with my last job and had sought this one out, however I was ensured that things were going to get better at the Arbors, which never really happened after all. So I ended up turning down this job... and regretting it in the end. But to my surprise, they had one more opening at this time and saw if I was still interested... and turns out I am! So I am very glad that I am being given a second chance. :) 

Being given this second chance has got me thinking that maybe things DO happen for a reason. Right when I quit my job, I got the chance to intern with an event planner.... something that I never would have had the chance to had I been working. And I got a 3 week long summer, that I wasn't expecting, but has turned out to be pretty nice. The stars have finally aligned in the right way and things just may work out after all... or at least I hope lol :)

Intern Opportunity #2

"Just don't give up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there is love and inspiration, I don't think you can go wrong." -Ella Fitzgerald

I got back yesterday from Houston where I have spent the last couple of days interning for Kat (the event planner again).  This event was a little more stressful than last because it was kind of a big deal, but as Kat kept saying "You have to go through the guts to get to the glory." And that's exactly what happened. The event was so flawless and not to mention gorgeous! She is SO great at putting masterpieces together.

The event that I helped with was a "Cocktails and Connections" party that was hosted by The Knot Wedding Magazine for all of vendors in the Houston wedding industry. I was asking Kat how she got picked to be the event planner for such an important event and she said that she had to apply for it and go through a big interview process and everything so it's awesome that she got the job! And I felt pleasured to be helping her with it!

At the event, I got the opportunity to meet some University of Houston students that are wanting to pursue event planning as well. They attend the Conrad Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management and are in an organization that is called "NACE" which is National Assoc. of Catering Executives. The organization is not just for caterers, but also event planners. Anyways, they have to volunteer at events for their degree program, so I got the pleasure of meeting them! It was nice to talk to someone that is interested in the same field as me and the way they talked about the Conrad Hilton College made me intrigued... maybe something I might look into later on! 

All in all, I had a great time and got amazing experience. I hope to keep working with Kat because she is just awesome. It made me so happy to be at this event and to have people recognize me from the last event that I helped her with... interning with her will  benefit me sooo much! I'm glad this opportunity has come up when I have been able to take advantage of it... maybe things DO happen for a reason...

Internship

"The vision must be followed by the venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps- we must step up the stairs." -Vance Havner

A couple of days ago, I got to internship with an awesome Houston event planner (named Kat) and was so ecstatic about this opportunity! I got to help with a cocktail party... and upon arriving I didn't know what the cocktail party was for, but once I got there and found out that it was for the "Who's Who" vendors of the Houston Bridal Extravaganza I could have died and gone to heaven... this was the PERFECT thing for me. I was surrounded by people that are in the field of work that I am interested in pursuing and so meeting them was very beneficial. I was sooo so grateful that Kat introduced me to people and acted like I was a longtime employee of hers, even though this was the second time I had ever even talked to the lady! 

The venue was amazingly beautiful, the "vintage garden" theme was so cute, and the atmosphere was just so fun (they even had a photo booth to take pics in :)). My favorite part of the event was enjoying the yummyyyy desserts (of course). They had the most amazing cake balls I had EVER HAD IN MY LIFE. Omg I would give anything to have more of those... the sad thing is I had to throw a bunch of them away at the end of the night... do you understand how hard that was for me?? 

I am so grateful that this internship opportunity came at a time that I was able to take advantage of it. Kat mentioned me helping with an event that The Knot wedding magazine is hosting next Wednesday and I am looking forward to helping! I feel so lucky to have these opportunities right now because they will help me soo much in the future! Event planning has always been a dream for me, but getting a taste of it is making this dream come true.

Letting go & getting it all out!

"When one door closes, another one opens..."

So a TON of stuff has happened within the past week. For those of you that don't know, i made the decision to put my two weeks notice in at my job and with that I had to move out of my apartment since my rent was paid for by my job. So now I am living with my dad.  It's funny because usually a big decision like that would take me weeks to figure out, but this one took only a few hours after a dramatic series of events took place within my office. Although I put in my two weeks and was supposed to work until August 11, I got "let go" after working a 12 HOUR SHIFT because "I'm too much of a perfectionist." Yep, thanks for USING ME. The good thing is that I never have to deal with some of those sorry people ever again :)... or their bullshit.

Although all of this was so hard to swallow, I've already gotten over it and the "letting go" all happened yesterday. It surprises me that I am no longer upset about it, but I think it's because I know how ABSOLUTELY ridiculous the situation was, and I am glad that I am out of that place and able to move on with my life. I no longer have to deal with all that mess every single day ever again. I put all of myself into that job, and to be treated the way I was shows me just how poorly that place was ran.

I'm very thankful to all of my friends and family for all the support they have given me within the past week. They have kept me sane when I was completely down. They all dropped everything to help me and I'm blessed to have the people in my life that I do. THOSE are the people that really matter in life... not the ones that bring you down. And it's funny how the best person for me within the past week has been my baby Ralph... funny how a dog can be the one that keeps you going, but he has!

Although the past week has been a huge change for me... moving out of my apartment, quitting my job, and moving in with my dad... I'm excited for what's ahead of me... which is also strange for me to be saying so quickly after all of this mess. I have been more optimistic today than usual... someone check my temperature lol. But I guess I'm growing up and learning how to move on.

So, for the happy part of my story... I am going to intern tomorrow for an AWESOME event planner in Houston. I met her at the Bridal Extravaganza in Houston (I went to it not because I am wanting to get married anytime soon but because I want to be an event/wedding planner) and she was amazing... so personable. We have been emailing back and forth and now I get to intern for her tomorrow at a cocktail party :) I'm very excited to get a taste of what I want to do later on in life... and maybe this is just the career this "perfectionist" needs because the clients will appreciate that I want their event to be as perfect as possible!! And then other than that, I will be spending time with my mom later on in the week, which is long overdue since I have been working so much, and then I will take a mini-vacation with Cole this weekend to either Galveston or New Braunfels. I'm sure not letting anyone rain on my parade. And I'm not gonna let myself stress about getting a new job until next week... I deserve to let myself have a break for a bit!

So, here's to SLAMMING that last door shut and opening a new one. I hope that behind this new door I will find an easy-going job that satisfies me and I hope that my positivity holds up!