Number nine: Finishing my MBA!

Yeah! A little over a year an a half ago, I was so excited to start my MBA journey. And yet...I am so glad to be done! After about 20 years of school, I am finally tired of it. I am ready to be done and I finally am!

My internship this summer was the last part of my MBA and was all research for my thesis. I am just so relieved to be done! Anyway, My thesis ended up being some 48 pages long! And I only got an 82 on it! For those of you who know me, I am pretty obsessive about grades. My GPA for my undergrad was a 3.88. My MBA GPA was a 3.936. I am very happy with that even if I do have a +B in the last class. I mean, yeah, I would have loved to have an A, but overall I did well enough and am happy to be done.

I cannot tell you how glad I am to be done. No more homework. No more discussion boards. No more instructors. No more homework. How wonderful is the world?!

I have decided not to participate in the graduation ceremony. It is not really my thing. But I am hoping to go and cheer! I know some people that will be walking and am really excited for one person in particular ...I think I owe her some Duck Tape Roses....

Anyway! I am really happy and hope you are happy for me too. School is nice, but being done is even better!

My Life in Pinteresting

Have I ever talked about Pinterest? I think it may have been one of the reasons I was not posting in April...then again maybe it was all the homework for my MBA...No matter.

I love Pinterest! My cousin introduced me to it over Christmas time and I quickly became addicted!

Since then, I have amassed some 1640 pins and 13 boards! That actually is not that many. I know some people with loads more pins than that!

Has this ever happened to you? Have you become addicted to Pinterest?! What are your favorite pins? I have 13 different boards. They are, in order of number of pins:

Need to Bake

389 Pins

Jewelry

286 Pins

Do It Yourself-ish

240 Pins

A Few Frocks

212 Pins

My Work

131 Pins

Real Stars

117 Pins

Yarn

91  Pins

Crafties

66 Pins

Lovely

57 Pins

Growing Things

25 Pins

Shops I love

5 Pins

Summer Fun

2 Pins

So let's find each other on Pinterest and share our lives!

Something New

Three short weeks ago, I was a nobody, a nothing. I did not have anything really happening in my life that I was excited about. Sure, I have a great family and wonderful friends, yes, I have an Etsy shop and love beading, your right I am an MBA student…but life was a bit boring.

Then something happened. It seemed small and unimportant at first. You know, the kind of thing you think could be big, but normally nothing ever happens?

This time, something happened.

I was reading a textbook for a class and it said that in business today, we need to look at the competition as collaborators instead of as competition. “Huh,” I thought, “that’s interesting.” Etsy, and the world, for that matter, is full of jewelry makers and sellers. Competition right? Then again…an idea was beginning to form.

The next day I started working on another bit of homework. A little paper on some topics from the textbook. One of the questions I was supposed to address in the paper was what had I learned and how was I going to apply it tomorrow. At first, I did not know what to make of the question. I mean, come on. What do you usually do with new learning? File it away until you need it right? But the idea to look at others as collaborators and not competitors was a tad different than most new knowledge.

So, I did the paper and in it, I mentioned that I might try asking some of my Etsy friends if they would be interested in some sort of creative collaborative project. I was thinking like 5 of use getting together (over the interwebs, of course!) to work on a project. Naturally, my idea was a piece of jewelry that each person would work on. Then we could action the piece off and the proceeds would go to charity.

I posted my proposal on several different Etsy team forums on Friday night and waited. On Sunday, while I was at church, I could hardly stand it. I just felt so led by the Lord to do this thing. Like it was right. Like it was what I was supposed to be doing right now. I was so filled with excitement that I could barely stop myself from skipping around and shouting “Hurray!”

I got home and started looking at the threads to see if anyone had showed interest. Over  30 people in less than 48 hours had responded. I had Etsy convos (private messages) asking how shops could become involved. I was stunned! The next day, there were about 20 people in the conversation. We had ideas flying everywhere. A blanket, different charities, a scrapbook, a website, a virtual craft fair. All kinds of ideas and they were coming from several different teams. I realized that I had to get everyone together and on the same page.

I started a new team. We did not even have a name yet, but we had about 30 members. At this point, my idea had only been around for about a week.

The first week as a real team…I don’t even know what happened! I mean everyone was talking all at once. A group of 40 some Etsyians – from all over the world – were talking about how we could help others through our crafts. We picked a name – Etsy’s Helping Hands. One member volunteered to start and maintain a website. Another volunteered to do the same for a blog. Yet another started a virtual craft fair. We started a calendar, and three weeks after the idea took shape, we have the rest of the year planned out. We know who is planning the project for each month and we know what charity will gain the benefit.

Our first project is going to be sending our handmade items to a women’s shelter in Texas….and it was not even my idea! I did not come up with it at all. Trey did. And he volunteered to do everything for it. We just send him our items! I am so thrilled to be doing a group project with people who are passionate about the work of the team!

Now we have over 50 members! And we still grow daily. I am still in shock at how amazing this group of people is! I am thrilled with what the Lord is using me for and am so blessed by it all. I cannot wait to see how things go.

My dream for the team is that it will become self-sustaining. That each member can choose to or not to participate in each month’s project.  That we become large enough that we can have local chapters. That we can make a real difference in the world. That we can practice compassion in a tangible way. And that we can use our gifts to give others hope.

I would love to share more about this project with you guys! Let me know if you have any questions! 

Here are our links:

www.etsyshelpinghands.com/ 

virtualcrafts.weebly.com/virtual-craft-fair.html 

http://www.facebook.com/groups/259638884122016/ 

http://twitter.com/#!/EtsyHH

One Week Later

Wow! I can hardly believe it has been a whole entire week since my last post! That is ridicules! I completely forgot about Thursday Treasuries because I was getting ready to go to New York City.

I had to go to New York for a school field trip. Yeah, we get field trips in the MBA program. Crazy huh?! Anyway, I was gone from Friday until I got back Yesterday afternoon. It was a whirlwind adventure and I had a fun time...my feet still hurt though!

Tile work in the subway.

The first thing we did was go to the New York Stock Exchange right there on Wall Street! It was really neat and we were the first MBA group to actually get onto the trading floor! We got to talk to a guy that was in charge of 50 different stocks - he is the only one there who trades those stocks. Pretty interesting. We got to ask all kinds of questions and we even found out why the place was strewn with litter. Those guys jobs are so important that they can not take a little walk over to a trash can to throw things away. Why is their job so important? Well, most companies use complex algorithms to do the trading. In fact, all the other stock exchanges around the world, only use algorithms and no people. The problem is that computers do not realize that selling 100 million shares might be a mistake or that you have to sell off shares slowly. People are there so that they can find the mistakes and stop the market from completely imploding. Pretty awesome all told. These guys are the heroes of our time. they are making sure that our retirement funds and college funds never go away entirely.

NYSE, I took this picture!

After that we rode the subway to Bloomberg. I stood up on the subway because that is what all the cool people do in the movies right? Well, it is a lot harder than it looks and I have a new respect for all the people who stand up on the subway.

Bloomberg looks like a perfect place to work. Why? Because no body really works, you can wear jeans, and there is free food courts on ever 6th floor. Oh, and they have a circular escalator!

The circular escalator and I took this picture too.

After that...we walked....and walked....and walked. We walked about a mile and a half and it took us about 45 minutes because the foot traffic was unbelievable! It was all good though because we made it to our destination - Tony's Di Napoli! It was amazing!

So much food!

After dinner we walked about half a block longer to Time Square which was amazing. I got to go into the Toys R Us, M&M Store, and the Hershy's Store! Very cool indeed. The Toys R Us has a working farris wheel and an ice cream shop inside!

Time Square was amazing. 

So many lights.

Picture of Broadway ads.

The ferris wheel at Toys R Us!

On Saturday we went to Little Italy and China Town. China Town is so packed full of people! It was just like the movies.So Crazy! We had dinner at Il Cortile. It was really good too. I handmade Gnocchi stuffed with Mascarpone cheese, spinach, and chicken...soooo goood! For dessert? An ice cream bomb with chocolate and vanilla ice cream, slivered almonds, and a Marciano cherry all covered in a chocolate coating!

Totufo (I think) from Il Cortile.

After dinner we had to run to catch the subway train to get to our Broadway show. We got there 5 minutes before they closed the doors. Phew! Just in time! We went to Sister Act at the Broadway Theater and it was amazing. I seriously do not think I stopped smiling the entire time! Awesome!!

Not my picture...not allowed to take photos.

On Sunday morning we went to the Brooklyn Tabernacle church which was litterally huge. Not my kind of church too much "can I hear an amen?". And the preacher talked down to the congregation as though we were all children under 5 years old. The music was nice though. Too much clapping for me though...and way too much audience participation type stuff..."Go shake hands with 10 people you do not know."

crazy big church - like 150 in the choir!

After church we ate a Junior's which is famous for it's cheesecake. I had a beef brisket and it was soooo good!

Great food again!

Sunday night we all went to Ground Zero and the Staten Island Ferry. It was about 9 pm when we got on the ferry and the skyline was lovely.

Really nice ride.

It was a fun time...you know, I did have to do class work though. We all had to give presentations. My group did our presentation on "How to Globalize a Brand or Market." We chose the Nintendo Company as an example and the presentation went really well.

Okay, so that is my excuse for forgetting about you guys! I am sorry though. I will get back to blogging regularly soon, probably after Thanksgiving!

Happy Holidays!!

Let it BEGIN! Let it BEGIN!

Hey Guys! Well this is the first week of the MBA program!! I am so excited for it! I feel just like Rhino from Bolt!

Yes, I do know I am a ridicules nerd for being excited about school, but I can not help it! Here are a few pictures to mark this momentous occasion in my life...lol just kidding. We need not be so somber. This is going to be fun!

My acceptance letter!

Wohoo!! SAU!!!

Look at these great books! So excited!! Look at the boatload for accounting!! The four books on the right. Four! Oh and the quilt in the background is one my mom made for me. The bright colors are so me!

So far it does not seem like it will take too much of my time so I should be able to be crafty still. :D I started working on another sweater last night while I was watching the wonderful old Disney Peter Pan and 101 Dalmatians. I love those great old movies. I am not sure how much jewelry and knitting I will do in the near future though. You see, Lent is starting tomorrow...and...I have decided to reduce the number of movies I watch a week from between 7 and 11 to only 2! The problem must be obvious to you all. I make things while I watch movies. So If I am not watching movies I might not be making jewelry. Don't worry! I will do stuff, it just might not be as much as before. Anyway, I am giving up movies (inferior relaxation and recreation) in order to spend more time relying on God. He is the only true relaxation and peace. So, I'm going to do it! Hope you guys all have a great Fat Tuesday and a wonderful Lenten season filled with hope and renewal and peace! Get closer to God, guys!

SNOW!!!!

I am so very very happy with life right now!! It is so wonderful. I am just so happy and excited. :D I have been wanting snow for so long and now it is finally here! And just in time for the first day of December too.

Lord, thank You for the snow! Thank you for how lovely it is. Thank You for loving me so much that You sent me some snow! I love you Lord and pray that the snow will make everyone a little bit happier today and keep us all safe in the snow.