All posts tagged career

I need Back-to-School help – a reader challenge/contest

I admit it. I’m a deal shopper.

I have spent many a July Sunday going through sale ads, cutting coupons, seeking penny pencils. I have arrived at a variety of big-box stores bright and early on weekday mornings, avoiding crowds and grabbing deals. I have hunted the elusive 8-pocket divided pocket folder from place to place.

I kind of liked it.

But now I’m a full-time working mom. My habits have to change. I am already predicting the many ways our lives will alter (and fearing the ways I haven’t even thought of.) Here’s what I know.

We will have less time to get ready in the mornings.
My sons will go to after-care each day, meaning I’ll need to provide additional school snacks.
I will no longer be available for, “Mom, I forgot my…”
Weekday school supply shopping is not an option.

Since I have three sons with crazy supply lists, less time, and no inclination to fight the evening and weekend crowds, I’ve already been looking for solutions to my school supply challenge. I was so glad when a friend hooked me up with The Write Stuff, a prepackaged school supply company, based right here in Illinois. While my sons’ school doesn’t participate in their school program (Boo-hoo!), I can order almost all of what I need through their website, at a good price and shipped right to my home (hooray!). Since they each have specific items on their lists, building 3 separate “a la carte” kits will just take a little time on the computer.

That’s one challenge down, but what about the rest?

So I turn to you, dear readers. I’m looking for your best back-to-school advice. Please comment on this post with helpful tips for getting and staying organized for the school year.

On Monday, July 16, 2012, I will choose one random winner for a Write Stuff school supply kit, to be shipped in time for this school year. (Tips may also appear on the websites and/or blogs for The Write Stuff as well as Go Girl Communications.)

Thank you friends.

Disclosure: I sometimes receive complimentary products and services in connection to my blog, in this case a school supply kit. I choose to write only about products, destinations and services that I enjoy. All opinions are 100% my own.

The Write Stuff kit ships in a keepsake box.

I was surprised at how much fits in that box. Brand name supplies including dry-erase markers and highlighters.

9 Comments

by alenaslife on July 10, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Family, Giveaway

Tagged Back to School, BigBoxStores, career, contest, family, giveaway, illinois, organization, school supplies, The Write Stuff, tips, Workweek and weekend

Posted by alenaslife on July 10, 2012

http://alenaslife.wordpress.com/2012/07/10/i-need-back-to-school-help-a-reader-challengecontest/

Monday Quote: Something new

No one can go back and make a brand new start, my friend, but anyone can start from here and make a brand new end.”
― Dan Zadra

By the time you are reading this post, I will have officially started my new job. After so many years of a completely flexible schedule, I will be a member of the full-time employee world. Daunting.

Also exhilarating. I am wise enough to understand that life does not offer the opportunity for a new start, but I have one. Leaving the place & people who have known me forever and watched me grow up, I will have the chance to make brand new first impressions.

Am I nervous? Of course.

Excited? Very.

Scared? You bet.

Confident about my decision? Getting there.

I’ve already written about my fears, so today I celebrate new possibilities with a new blog theme. Perhaps changing the look of alenaslife is not as dramatic as the real changes in Alena’s life, but I thought I’d keep with the theme.

Silly as it seems, I agonized over the new look.

Shouldn’t I just stick with the familiar look and feel? What will people think? What if I don’t like it a month from now?

Wait a minute…I’ve already asked and answered these questions about alenaslife. No doubt. No worry.

Today is a new day. A new beginning.

Monday Quote: I want to fly (alenaslife.wordpress.com)
I said “yes.” Now what? (alenaslife.wordpress.com)

15 Comments

by alenaslife on July 2, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Family, Monday Quote, Quotes

Tagged Alena, career, change, inspiration, motivation, quotes

Posted by alenaslife on July 2, 2012

http://alenaslife.wordpress.com/2012/07/02/monday-quote-something-new/

Monday Quote: I want to fly

You wanna fly, you got to get rid of the shit that weighs you down.”

– Toni Morrison, Song of Solomon

Yes, I want to fly.

Not in an Icarus kind of way, but I do want to soar in this life. I want to succeed in my career. I want to write with passion and wit. I want to raise my sons to be fine men. Mostly, I want to embrace endless possibility and run with it instead of running away.

So, via the brilliant Toni Morrison, I ask myself, “What kind of shit is weighing me down?” I can easily identify the two biggies.

Self-doubt. I spend too much time asking myself, “Can I do this?” instead of just going for it. I know I have passed up opportunities to fly because I was afraid. I stage long internal battles with my own doubts and fears, giving myself pep talks and motivational speeches.
Worry. Different than self-doubt, worry is my favorite form of procrastination. Step by step I worry over every detail that can go wrong. Intellectually, I understand that worry is a useless emotion because it accomplished nothing, but my vivid imagination can be a curse in this department. I can come up with paralyzing lists of what could go wrong. Those possibilities sit in my head, holding me down.

It is time for me to let these bad habits go. I need to drop them on the ground so that I can rise up. I will stop doubting that my wings will carry me. I will not worry about the turbulence.

I want to fly.

8 Comments

by alenaslife on June 25, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Family, Monday Quote, Quotes

Tagged career, family, inspiration, literature, motivation, Quote, Song of Solomon, Toni Morrison

Posted by alenaslife on June 25, 2012

http://alenaslife.wordpress.com/2012/06/25/monday-quote-i-want-to-fly/

A goodbye garden party

I don’t like “good-byes” but I do like a good party. Last night I had the chance to say goodbye to many of the friends I’ve made over 20 years with the same company. These pictures don’t come close to capturing all the love and support I’ve felt, but they do show what a good time we had.

I will be ever-grateful for everything I learned about myself, about writing and about pushing forward during my time and many, many jobs at Wednesday Journal, Inc.