A New Chapter Professionally

Tomorrow will mark one month since the Contract / Risk Specialist opportunity came my way. If I could have looked through binoculars into the future, I'm not sure I would have had the guts to envision where I am today.  Even though my official start date for pay rate purposes is Monday, I trained with my new supervisor again today and I will train with her again tomorrow. I finally got the offer/transfer letter from HR and signed it, so it's really official! This is a huge opportunity I have in front of me and I am extremely thankfully that my new supervisor and Wharton-Smith want to invest their time and money in me. There's no doubt it will be challenging, but that's part of what makes it appealing.

I wrote my payroll supervisor a thank you note for being an amazing supervisor.  It was sad turning over all of my payroll access (passwords, key cards, keys). I am super thankful she supported me during this transition to the extent of coming in really early and staying really late in order to allow me to transfer quickly. Seriously, she needs a cape with a dollar sign on it. I'm glad I have someone like her in my corner.

Life is Good

Today, I finished my last payroll run at Wharton-Smith. It was bittersweet. I have loved working in the payroll office and learning from my amazing supervisor. There was not one day I woke up not wanting to go to work. That's how much I enjoyed it! It has been a great experience and I am truly going to miss it. I will be wrapping up my responsibilities as payroll assistant and training someone how to do some of my tasks. Even though my official start date is March 21st (That's the date my pay increase takes effect), my soft transition begins this Friday. This Friday, I'll be training with my new supervisor! Next week, I'll be back in payroll Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday; and then I'll be training with my new supervisor on Thursday and Friday. After the 21st, I will officially be the contracts/risk specialist and I may float back to payroll occasionally until they're able to fill my old position. I can't wait to start learning my new position! I am up for the challenge and I think the folks in my new department will prove to be great mentors for me.

After messaging some friends, once I realized I really got into the NYC Marathon I went into my supervisor's office and told her with a shaky voice and tears in my eyes. She was ecstatic! She shared with me in my excited disbelief and even had tears in her eyes, too!  I never dreamed I would get in on my first try because I know people that have been trying for 5 years and still didn't get in this time. I have never been this excited about anything before.  I can't even describe exactly how I feel about it because words seem so inadequate.

Financially, I wasn't really ready for it, but with my new promotion and taking on some work with my dad on the weekends I should be able to save for the trip/race without sacrificing other things I'm saving for. My bestie, Taylor, has already committed to join me and Kim will join us if her school schedule allows her to get away. I've booked a hotel in Midtown New York for four nights. Holy crapola, that's the most I've ever paid for a hotel per night. They better have great toilet paper. We want to see a Broadway show and cross the Brooklyn Bridge. I'm sure we'll come up with more to do.  Just envisioning crossing the finish line in NYC has made me cry more than once already.

I am officially in marathon training! Yes, I expect it to take the entire 8 months until the race to properly train. Seriously, I want to be in the best shape of my life on race day. I'm still working out a training schedule, but the good news is that I already have runner friends volunteering to train with me on my long runs to help push me through.

This Smile is Glued to My Face

I have officially accepted the job offer for the contracts/risk specialist position. I will transfer on Monday, March 21st to my new cube downstairs. I am super excited about this opportunity!

Above is a snip from the e-mail that confirmed my entry into the 2016 TCS NYC Marathon! I won the lottery! 

My lab results are in. Although they have improved slightly, the doc wants me to start taking iron again because my levels are still too low. He didn't mention anything about switching meds and since I'm feeling ok, I didn't ask.

It's not even Wednesday and this week has already been a whirlwind. When I have more time, I'll post more about my new position and NYC.

Dear 2015

Dear 2015,

I am not the least bit sad to see you go. You were a lot like a fly-over state. You offered some cool views, but really it was mostly boring while waiting for you to pass by. Perhaps it's because I was too busy adult-ing.  The highlights you left me are as follows:

1. I mustered up the guts to quit working for my dad to sell cars. When I look back at selling cars, I think that it's proof that I really can do anything I set my mind to. It was a great experience. I just disliked the hours and the way they worked me to the bone. All the while I was still going to school.
2.  I graduated Summa Cum Laude from UCF with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration as a finance major!!! It's still hard for me to believe that I did it! This accomplishment is HUGE in my book of life. It may sound dumb, but there are days when I miss going to school.
3. I had the courage to quit selling cars without any job prospects. Thankfully, my dad's company was busy enough to hire me until I found my current job as Payroll Assistant. I consider this job my first "real" job out of college. I'm learning so much. I'm blessed to work for such an amazing company with a super awesome workforce.
4. I took myself off of my parents' health insurance plan and got my own insurance through work. This was and still is a big deal to me because health insurance is my lifeline.
5. I started a 401K through work. I won't bore you with the details. I'll just say this excites me because I think it really is a step in the right direction to prepare for my future. 
6. I had my first MRI and it sucked, but it didn't suck as bad as a colonoscopy would have. I heard those words I hate hearing from my doctor: Crohn's is active. In response, I started doing Cimzia injections every three weeks instead of every four weeks to help determine if it's still working. I know what I think.
7. I started going to counseling for the first time in my life. I didn't realize the layers of mental complexity Crohn's is affecting/creating. My feelings are valid. Even though I could be saving the money I'm spending on counseling, I think investing in my mental state is a wise decision.
8. [Edit: I added this one because it somehow slipped my mind yesterday. I financed my dream car and I'm still in love. The Mustang totally exceeded my expectations!]

I spent most of 2015 working and reaching goals I set for myself many years ago. I have come a long way, but I still have a long way to go. It feels like I'm sleep walking though life at the moment though.

Rewarded for Working Hard

If you asked me what my strengths are, I would tell you my strengths are being a quick learner and being a hard worker. I got my work ethic from my dad and he got it from his dad. I work hard without expecting praise and/or rewards for doing what needs to be done. My family isn't known for giving praise, so I grew up with either silence or criticism. I worked for my dad for 10 years and rarely got praised. It's just not his style, so it's always a little strange for me to get praised. Although I do love high fives!

My supervisor at Wharton-Smith gives me feedback on my work every week. She praises me by telling me how great I'm doing and telling me how impressed she is with how fast I catch on. Though I think she is super patient and a fantastic teacher. It makes me feel good and it takes the guessing game out of figuring out how well I'm doing at work. Last week, my supervisor took the praise a step further. She recommended me for a bonus and the VP of Finance and the President of the company approved it. I've only been with the company for five weeks and I got a bonus! I think that speaks volumes about how well I'm doing at work. In the past, typically my hard work was rewarded with letter grades, winning, scoring the most points, or just the satisfaction I get out of doing my best. This time, my hard work was rewarded with money!!!  I am falling more in love with Wharton-Smith every week.

I signed up for health benefits with Wharton-Smith. That will be kicking in September 1st. I'm feeling pretty adult-y about having my own health insurance through my company. I also will start contributing to my 401K through the company starting September 1st. After two years with the company, they begin matching. Once they begin matching I'll start contributing the maximum allowed to take full advantage of it. I also get life insurance, which will be enough to handle all of my debts (right now I only have student loan debt, but the life insurance is enough to cover student loan, auto loan, and part of a mortgage until they can sell my future house) and after death affairs, and still leave my beneficiary with some left over.

My First Day at Wharton-Smith, Inc.

I meant to write this post Monday night, but I went to bed right after dinner because I was not feeling well. I pooped my brains out and then I slept for over 11 hours. I felt better on Tuesday, thankfully. Now somehow it's Thursday and I'm just getting around to it...

I always wondered if higher paying jobs were really more work. In this case, it is certainly more work mentally. I'm learning lots and loving every minute of it. The details, organization, and responsibility involved are exciting. I'm pretty much shadowing my supervisor, Kim V. until I get the hang of things. She seems like an awesome lady! The work she does is impressive and I can't wait to learn all of her payroll ways!   She has given me a few projects already to work on. I love it because she is not a micro manager. She showed me what to do, then gave me the project to complete and said just ask if I had any questions. She will be checking my work afterwards until I fully know what I'm doing, but it's nice to have that freedom to do it by myself. There isn't any unnecessary hovering, which is opposite of Classic Mazda. I love that it feels like she already trusts me! I have seen things this week that made my eyes pop with the outstanding realization that I am responsible for highly sensitive information. I certainly don't take that lightly.

Everyone in the office is super nice! Most of the ladies are around my age and are either having kids or getting married. lol I'd say there are about 15 people in the Payroll, Accounting/Finance, and HR area where I work and there are way more people in other areas of the building. As far as Payroll goes, it's just Kim V. and myself. On any given week we will be processing payroll for 450-500 employees.

Soon enough I'll be Kim V.'s right hand gal for everything. I have to be fully trained by September because she is taking off for two weeks to get married!

P.S. I knew I was going to love this job right away once I went to the bathroom for the first time because they keep a poopourri and a febreeze bottle in the single stall bathroom.  At Mazda, I just went into the men's room whenever I had to take a crap so that if anyone smelled anything they would think it was one of the guys.  Now I have absolutely no stress about going to the bathroom at work. It's awesome

Tomorrow is Only a Day Away

I start my new job as payroll assistant tomorrow! Well, technically I'll likely be spending the whole day with HR getting orientated, but I'm excited nonetheless! A new job, a new routine, and best of all less time with certain members of my family.  I'm super excited because it's a set schedule. I even get about two hours of jam session time during my commute each day. It's going to be great time for me to get in the zone of happiness and fun, and get my head right again. I love time to myself even if I don't consider myself an introvert. It's so easy to let others' negativity mess with my mentality. Almost like the negativity is contagious. I'm working on making mixed CDs to listen to.  In the mean time, I'll be jamming out to Olly Murs.