Job Update: 4 Months In

Hey guys,

I thought it would be a fun idea to give you another update on where I am with my job. I'll probably do a couple more of these, like once I hit 6 months and am no longer on probation and also when I hit a year. Which will be February 30th and then August 30th, consecutively. Just to give you a reminder, I am a customer service specialist in our building department for our local county. So basically I deal with our online permits. I take them in and make sure that our contractors gave us all the necessary documents before we send them on their way to get reviewed. Then once they've been reviewed they are sent back our way so we can issue them and give back to our customers. 

So I am still very much in love with my job. It is absolutely amazing! I work with some of the most wonderful people I have ever met in my entire life. Everyone genuinely cares about each other. We all ask personal questions and give advice on certain things that are going on in our lives. We also discuss vacations and tips about places to go and things to see. We don't really get in trouble for talking too much sometimes they encourage it because they know that it makes for a better work environment.

I do have to say though that I know the stereotype for government employees is that we get paid to not work but this is so not true. We definitely work our butts off and we also get yelled at by all of our customers and then Christmas comes around and we get lunches purchased for by companies that we work with and other random treats as a way to thanks for what you do and sorry for being a pain all year. It's very nice and funny all the same time. We also get emails thanking us for all of our hard work.

One of our main problems at work is that our system constantly goes down when we're trying to issue and work on peoples permits. It is very frustrating. We are currently dealing with one of our largest glitches since I started working there and it has been causing all of our work to get super backed up. We're really hoping that this issue will be resolved soon but we're not entirely sure when. We've been told that our system needs an update and that it will hopefully fix our problem, so fingers crossed!

Another thing I love about my job is that things are always changing. Rules are being created and taken away. We get new responsibilities added to our list and other ones taken away. It makes it very nice because then our jobs are never mundane or the same. It makes every day a new adventure. We also learn new things almost everyday. It's crazy how much there is to learn on a daily basis whether you've been there 4 months or 15 years! 

All right that's it for now! Talk to when I've reached 6 months!

Talk to you soon!

XO, Steph

Job Update: 2 Weeks

Hey guys,

So I've officially been at my job for two weeks now! I can say that I have learned A LOT!!! Like so much its crazy! At first I thought my job was going to be boring and mundane but I was wrong! I actually really enjoy my job, it's a lot of fun to do what I do. Everyone I work with is so nice and working there does not make me miss my old job at all. Like I will probably never go back to working at DSW because it just makes me look back and think about how miserable I was there. I am so happy at my current job and I really can't wait to see what the future holds! 

So my official title is Customer Service Specialist. I haven't really gotten too much into the assisting customers portion yet because I don't really know that much yet but I've already taken 2 phone calls from customers that I have been dealing with and I was thankfully able to help both of them and both of them hung up happy so that's good! The first phone call was a little rough because I accidentally left the person on hold for 18 minutes! I thought she had hung up and then she called back but she told me that she had been on hold the whole time! Anyways I was able to solve her issue so thankfully it ended up working out just fine. The second phone call I was able to answer her question without even needing any help from any of the other women I work with so I was very proud of myself! 

So let me explain a little bit about what I do. Even though my title is customer service specialist, my actual role is a permit representative. So what I actually do is sift through all of the documents that our customers give to use when they send us their permit and I make sure that we have everything we might need before the permit gets sent onto the next department. Some permits have to go to different departments for approval before the contractors can start working on the project. It's actually all very fascinating! I really enjoy this job because I'm such a nosy person and this job allows me to find out about things that are being built around town before anyone else! There are also some other things I get to learn about before some people but I'm not really supposed to share of them because I'm technically a government employee now! 

This job also seems to never be the same thing every day! I get to look at the plans for houses that range from $200,000 to $2 million! I also get to learn what restaurants and stores are going to look like before they're even built! It's very exciting and I actually really enjoy my work! I also feel very privileged because I actually am allowed to issue quite a few permits myself. They don't have to be approved by anyone else other than me. It's not too big but I honestly can't believe how many people don't have shutters living in hurricane central haha! Actually my sister and I don't have shutters on our house and most of our neighbors don't either! It's crazy! But the permits that I get to issue include shutters, windows, and doors, certain types of fences, garage doors and there might be some more. I don't think I've technically learned all of the permits that exist yet! 

Crazy thing is that I was kind of on my own after about 3 days! I issued several permits with my supervisor and then once my computer was officially all ready to go I was on my own issuing permits, except my supervisor sits like right next to me so thankfully if I had a question she was right there waiting to answer it! Everyone I work with is so very helpful and no one really seems to have a bad attitude or seems to be negative which is so refreshing compared to my old job! It's like I'm working a real job rather than going back to high school! Anyways, I might do another job update once I'm like 6 months in but I think this is going to be it for now! I hope you enjoyed this post! I will hopefully have another one posted for you guys on Wednesday! Anyways, I hope everyone has a fantastic week!

Thanks for stopping by!

XO, Steph

Why I Chose Not to Move to New York City

Hey guys,

So today's post is going to be kind of personal and it took me a long time to actually write this post. One of the reasons I wanted to write it is because it's been almost 2 years since my sister and I thought about moving to New York. Also, since I recently took a trip to New York I thought it would be fun to finally finish writing this post and actually post it! I absolutely love the city of New York! It is one of my favorite places to visit, I never get bored and I just absolutely love the atmosphere! It's so fast paced, high-tech, and people from all over the world live there. It's such a unique experience and if you've never been, it's number one on my places to visit list. This city is amazing and theres a reason it's been featured in so many movies and TV shows! 

Anyways, one of the main reasons I chose not to move there is because it's my favorite place to vacation. If moved there then I would be living there and I would have to pick new favorite place to vacation which probably would have to be Florida since that's where I'm from and all of my family lives here. But honestly, I couldn't pick Florida as a new favorite place to vacation because I don't actually like Florida enough to want to vacation here all of the time. The only reason I would be coming back was for my family and I don't necessarily consider that an actual vacation then. I wouldn't be exploring anywhere new I would probably just be seeing all of my family that lives whenever I came down.

The next reason is because it is just way too expensive to live there. It's also way to expensive to really do anything as well! I've watched a lot of those videos on facebook about people living in their tiny loft apartment in New York and how they barely get by with their rent and the amount of money they make but they still choose to live their because why not? It's an amazing city! But I just don't think I could imagine paying so much money for rent and other expense to live either with 3-4 other roommates with no space or just my sister and I in a studio with no space and with two dogs. Because yes my sister and I have a dog each and we definitely would not leave either of them behind.

Speaking of no space, I just don't think I could handle how tiny and confined everything is there. I've pretty much always lived in a house with a yard except for 1 semester when I lived in a dorm! I've had dogs and other various animals throughout my life too and a backyard for them to play in! I don't think I could handle having to take my dog out for a walk 2-3 times a day and making them stay on a leash every time we went. My dog enjoys being able to run around the backyard sometimes and just sit down in the sun and relax. I've also pretty much always had my own room and when I moved out of my parents house I've always had an extra room that my sister and I typically use as an office! I think if I had moved to NYC that I might have suffered from some sort of depression over this because I kind of am claustrophobic so I think I would have handled it well.

I also did not want to move there because I know for a fact that I would severely miss my family. The one semester that I lived in my dorm, I absolutely hated it so I drove home every single weekend just so I didn't have to be there. Thankfully I went to a school that was only about 2 and a half hours away so the drive was super easy and went by pretty quick! I currently live like 5 minutes from my parent's house and they are constantly coming over here to our house or we are going over to their house. We also pretty much spend every weekend doing something with them unless one of us is out of town. I also go on a lot of vacations with my family so I would miss being able to just take weekend trips to Disney with them. Granted I was planning on moving there with my sister so I think that would have helped a little but I still think I would have been depressed about not being able to go to dinner with my parent's whenever I wanted.

I hope you guys enjoyed this post! For now I think I will stick with just vacationing in NYC! I look forward to that trip pretty much every year now and I hope it's something we're able to keep doing every year!

Keep checking back for more posts even Monday, Wednesday, and Friday! I hope everyone has a fantastic week!

Thanks for stopping by!

XO, Steph

Interview Advice

Hey guys,

Happy August 1st! I can't believe how fast this year has just flown by! It's absolutely crazy! To be honest, the last 3 months have kind of just dragged on but gone by really quickly at the same time, it's so weird! Anyways, the reason I wanted to write this post was because I have been interviewing a lot lately and I just kind of wanted to sum up some of the things I've learned and some advice I want to share with you.

Tip #1

Always dress professional! I don't care where you are going to work or what anyone else has ever told you but don't show up to an interview in anything other than dress pants, closed toe shoes, and a blouse or button downs. You can also wear a dress or skirt to an interview just please make sure that it hits at or below the knees and that it looks professional. Basically my advice is to dress like you are going to court! You want to make sure you look nice, clean and presentable. First impressions are everything and if you aren't willing to dress nice for the position then I can guarantee the company is going to think that you aren't willing to do most of the work they plan to ask you to do!

Tip #2

It's completely okay to be nervous! These people are only human and they are not going to hurt you. Yes they have the power to give you a job or not but in the end just remember to breathe and be yourself. If you aren't being yourself they might be able to tell and they might not like that. They might also be able to tell that you're nervous and that's okay too. I promise you that most of them don't care and to honest, some of them might be nervous as well. They might hate conducting interviews as much as you hate going to them. But it's apart of life and we all need to just relax and everything will be okay! The main reason I'm bringing up this topic is because this is something that I really struggle with. My last interview I almost ran out of the building and said I couldn't do it! But thankfully I didn't! I survived and in the end I think the interview went really well. 

Tip #3

Make sure to always prepare for an interview! I don't care who you think you are, it's always best to show up prepared. They might ask you a question that you don't know the answer to but if you come up with questions and answers then you might be able to create an answer really quickly based off the questions and answers you practiced. There is nothing wrong in being prepared and I don't believe there is such a thing as being too prepared. However, I do believe in overthinking things because that's what I tend to do!

Tip #4 

Always ask questions. Honestly, I hate this part of interviews they always ask me if I have any questions and then I freeze and I'm like "ummm?? no?". But you need to ask at least 1 to 2 questions. Asking questions is a way for you to get more info out of them and it also shows them that you are actually interested in the position. If you don't want to know more about the job then to them you aren't actually interested in the job and you probably will never hear back from them. However, if this is the case and you are just using them as interview practice then I probably would not bother asking any questions if you don't really want to hear back from the company.

Tip #5
For my final tip, if you really want the job, don't forget to send out your thank you emails within 24-48 hours of the interview. I had my last interview on a Friday and so I sent them out Sunday night so they would have them in their inboxes by Monday morning. I feel like a lot of people forget this step but honestly, I think it really helps! It's very important to thank the person for taking the time to consider interviewing you and actually interviewing you. Make sure that if you are interview by more than 1 person that you send out an email to everyone person that interviewed you and that you make each one a little different. Also just write a few sentences thanking them and basically telling them why you are perfect for the job! Don't make it too long but don't just say thanks.

I hope this post helps anyone looking for a new job! I think that all of these tips have really helped me and just remember that everything happens for a reason so if there is a job you really wanted but didn't get, it's probably because there is an even better one waiting for you around the corner!

Thanks for stopping by!

XO, Steph

How to Tuesday: How I Make My Forever 21 Clothes Last

Hey guys,

So this might seem like an odd post but I was shopping online at Forever21 looking at clothes to buy and I was also thinking of new blog post ideas because I'm pretty much always trying to think of new blog post ideas haha. And I came up with this one (and a few others but those will go up later). 

So I have some clothes from Forever21 that are probably at least 9 years old or maybe even older and they still look brand new or at least barely worn. And people are always asking me about the clothes I wear and where I get them from and most of the time my answer is from Forever21. I love shopping at Forever21, however, I am extremely picky when it comes to shopping there. I will only buy items that I think will last and since I live about an hour away from a Forever21, I always buy quite a few pieces every time I go in. I'm that girl that brings in like 20 pieces to the dressing room when you're only allowed to have 7 at a time haha. 

But I wanted to share with you guys how I actually take care of my Forever21 pieces.

So for starters, I have a lot of clothes and buy a lot, I mean I probably own over 100 different tops (this includes tank tops, sleeveless, short sleeves, 3/4 length sleeves, long sleeves, plain v-necks, and some other styles) so if think about it, I could wear a different top every single day for like 100 days which means that the pieces that I buy from Forever21 aren't actually getting worn that much. 

However, if I didn't have such an amazing mom that loved to shop and didn't have a credit card to almost every store then I probably wouldn't own so much clothing, which means my Forever21 items would be getting so much more wear and tear. So if we take out the fact that I own a lot of clothes and if I only wore my Forever21 items every single day then they probably wouldn't last as long but I definitely think the way that I take care of them really is what helps to make them last longer.

So I pretty only hand wash all of my Forever21 clothes and by hand wash I mean I throw them in the washing machine and turn on the hand washing cycle haha. But I never dry my Forever21 items in the dryer. I hang dry or lay them flat to dry. Drying clothes in the dryer can be very rough on clothes and if you want to extend the life of your clothes then I highly recommend air drying them. Putting them in the dryer can cause them to pill or get snags. They can also shrink or stretch out in the dryer depending on the material.

Another tip I have is to make sure that you turn tops inside out that having beading on them, sequins, or some other type of details that may get damaged. This will also help to lengthen the life of your items because turning them inside out will protect them from getting on other items of clothing or possible something within the washing machine.

Also I hand wash items from Forever21 even if the tag says it can be washed on the regular cycle and dried in the dryer. I have learned that no matter the brand, washing clothes on the hand wash cycle and then hang drying them can definitely help to lengthen the life of all of your clothes. Yes, it can take so much longer to wash your clothes like this because it takes like 24 hours for them to dry but at the same time, at least your clothes are already on hangers and you can just put them away once they are dry.

Also, I only use Tide detergent. I happen to be allergic to several other brands and so I just try to stick to Tide because I know it won't cause me to break out in hives haha. I don't use anything else when washing my clothes, just your typical tide detergent.

I also do separate loads of hand wash cycles depending on the color. For example, I do a lights load (whites and other very light colors) and a darks load (black and other dark colors).

Like I said earlier, I am extremely picky when it comes to buying items at Forever21, I will search for items that I know are made out of good material and I will typically only buy blousey material tops. When it comes to the dresses, I'm not as picky because I love wearing dresses and I go through dresses so much quicker than I do tops. When I'm shopping for a top, I am sometimes looking for something specific. For example, I am obsessed with buying white tops or black tops and I have a little collection going at the moment so when I'm shopping for a new white or black top then I will look for a good material and I will check it out to make sure that it's already not pilling, doesn't have a snag, or any strings hanging out at the seams. 

I love buying my clothes at Forever21 because they are so cheap and trendy but you definitely have to make sure that you are looking very carefully before you make your final purchase if you want the item to last. 

I only buy tops and dresses from Foever21, I pretty much refuse to buy any bottoms whatsoever. I do have yoga pants and workout pants from them but I'm not counting those as bottoms because I would only wear those in public if I were exercising haha. The reason I avoid buying bottoms from them is because I have bad experiences with their bottoms for example, their sizing is wayyy off. I'm a true size 0 or size 25 depending on the brand and I can barely get into like a size 2 or sometimes a 4 so I don't really recommend buying their bottoms only because I don't agree with the way that they size them. I would only buy a pair of bottoms from them if I absolutely needed to and if it were for a costume party or something.

I have purchased skirts from them in the past but they didn't stay in my closet for very long and most of the never saw the light of day haha. I do have a couple pairs fabric shorts (or scarf shorts) and I still own them and where them but it's mostly just around the house. They are cute and comfortable but so thin and short so sometimes I just don't feel comfortable wearing them in public.

I hope you guys enjoyed this post and I also hope that it was helpful!

XO, Steph