Coffee & Honeycomb: work

Showing posts with label work. Show all posts

INSPIRED : APARTMENT

Thursday, August 29, 2013

(image : pinterest)

It's been exactly ONE WEEK since I moved into my apartment!!! Woohoo. And no, that image above looks nothing like what my real apartment looks like, but isn't it so cute? I really like how the windows let enough light seep throughout the entire living area.

Things I love about my apartment:

I'm a 10-minute walking distance from all my classes so I don't need to rely on a bus schedule to get to where I need to be. The weather has also been extremely nice lately, so the morning walk just puts my day to a great start. :) I think over the past year I grew really accustomed to walking everywhere because of Europe and my Chicago commutes.
There is a Starbucks conveniently located three blocks away. (which is where I am right now typing awaaaay)
My parking spot is LITERALLY as close as it gets to my apartment complex. (PTL for that because I definitely waited to the last minute to buy a parking pass.)
The huge amount of space. There is so much room my roommate and I plan on having many spontaneous dance parties... And one of my roommates plan on doing many spontaneous cartwheels... Which is kind of weird... But she can! Because there is THAT much space.
The hardwood floors. Lurv it.
The kitchen bar. It's spacious enough for all three of us to sit and do work at the same time. There's also a nice light fixture right above it which makes the area feel brighter than it really is. The best part? It's an arms reach to all the food. #winner

^ Maybe I should have made this a 10 things I love about my apartment... Whateva.

The whole place isn't quite fully furnished yet, and we don't have an entertainment center or a kitchen table. I think that's what makes the apartment still feel so new each time I walk in. It doesn't look lived in. It doesn't feel really cozy either. Maybe I should I throw in a welcome mat...

My room isn't fully furnished yet either, but I'm really enjoying having a room to myself. :) This is the first time in four years I'm not sharing a room with someone, and while I LOVE having a roommate, it's nice to have absolute control over every inch and corner of your space. (i'm a wittle bit of a control freak.)

Anyway, the room didn't come with a desk, so I'm planning on picking one up from Ikea when I go home this weekend. I really appreciate a solid work space because I tend to do a good amount in my room. I need a lot of desk space for books, the laptop, writing utensils, and a big mug of coffee (of course.) I also like to have different bits of inspiration around me to keep me motivated and productive. I try to throw up different bible verses, encouraging quotes, colors combos, photos, etc. Once the desk comes in, I want to make a montage of different wall art to keep that area inspiring.

Here are some things on Pinterest I found that I want to replicate...

^ Aren't these spaces just INVITING you to create something?

What does your workspace area look like? I'd love to see more inspiration.

XO.

Life of an Ad Intern: Day 2

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Day two was INSANE. Let me tell you about it.
The Insane Story of Day Two:
I boarded the 8:00 am train (per us), found a seat, opened my purse to pull out my train ticket and realized that my wallet wasn't in my there! -Along with all my cash, cards, train and bus tickets... I had a mini-panic attack unsure of how I was going to get through the rest of the day, let alone pay for the train ride I had already boarded. I was like... should i run off, should i stay on, should i lie, should i cry... I felt like I was in Italy again illegally riding those trains to Milan. Anyway, I rummaged through my purse and found a crinkled $10 sitting at the bottom, (lucky instance #1) so I was like nice and I decided I would use that for that train! ...And figure out the rest later.
So, the ticket master stepped in going around to see some everyone's boarding pass. By the time he got to me, I explained to him that I had already purchased a monthly pass but accidentally left it at home so I didn't have it with me that day, but I assured him that I ride that train every morning, yadda yadda wink wink pulls shirt down -- no I'm totally kidding. He asked me if I'd be there tomorrow, and I responded yes, and he let that ride go. (lucky instance #2 -- ticket master pulled through that morning. ps: i saw him again a later day and said "HI" and flashed my monthly pass in the air for a few seconds to show gratitude for the previous day... he didn't remember who i was and sort of cringed for being so enthusiastic. end note). So I was like okay, I can use this $10 for the ride back home then.
AND THEN, the train was delayed. Like I said, I hopped on the 8:00 train which is supposed to arrive at 8:34... BUT we didn't get to union station until 9:40!!! Two trains broke down on the track and one of them had to be tied up to the train in front and dragged into the city. Our train just followed slowly behind that whole ordeal. It was a mess. Do you follow? Picture oregon trail on the train tracks, because that's pretty much what it was.
When I found out the train was going to be delayed for such a long time, I panicked because I didn't want to be late on my second day of work, and decided I would use that $10 to pay for cab fare. I emailed my supervisor letting her know about the metra delay and that I would be in ASAP. She responded by telling me to just take a nice walk cause it was beautiful outside. "no worries" she said. So I was like, okaaaay! So I took that 30 minute walk to save that $10 for the train ride home like I originally planned. (lucky instance #3)
Then I came work, read some blogs, stapled all these packets (i'm becoming an EXCELLENT stapler, btw. I started to play this game to see how quickly i could get through packets... and the time is honestly pretty impressive.) So after I kept winning I got bored and lunch time came around. I had luckily thrown in some granola and decided to just munch on that to save monies. BUT THENNN, one of my supervisors came in and told me that there was a client lunch happening and that we could go out to eat on the company card!!! Just my luck. (: So, we went to Nordstrom Cafe and each enjoyed a $15 dollar meal. I got this amazing chicken pasta and a red velvet cupcake. It was freaking perfect. (lucky instance #4) Way to be clutch, havas.
Then the afternoon is kind of a bluuuuur and the work day ended and , I walked back to union station, and payed $8.75 for the train ride home. What a day. Now all I remember is a blur of mini-panic attacks; but luckily, somehow everything aligned and it was a-okay. (:
Anyway. That's my ridiculous story for the day. Now I will show you my outfit which has nothing to do with said story... HOWEVER, I am linking up with Mix & Match Fashion to daily document how I do biz casual. (:
DAY 2 OUTFIT:

DAILY TAKEAWAY:

PC STILL sucks. My eyeballs hurt so much from staring at this dim screen for 8 hours. And you can't take screenshots. And you can't zoom in/out with your trackpad.
It's hard to type quickly with long nails. I should probably cut them because they keep sliding off these cheap, plastic keys and falling into the cracks in between. ESPECIALLY BETWEEN "k" AND "i" AND "f" AND "t.

xo.

Life of an Ad Intern: Day One

Monday, June 10, 2013

Ello, ello.

Today was my first day of the internship. (: If I hadn't mentioned it before, I am an account management intern @ HAVAS WW, CHICAGO. Never heard of it? It might be because they recently had a brand makeover as of September last year. They used to go by EURO RSCG. Still doesn't ring a bell? You've probably seen their work, though! My office (CHI), specifically has done Sauza Tequila (do you remember that viral Fireman YouTube video?), Reynolds Wrap, The Laughing Cow, Pucker Vodka, etc. And Havas WW in general has done Does Equis (The Most Interesting Man in the World), McDonald's, Evian, IKEA, IBM, Coca-Cola... just to name a few.

Anyway, it was a solid first day. Boarded the 8:00 a.m. train, arrived to Union Station a quarter til 9:00 a.m., hopped on a bus, and got to the office just in time for orientation at 9:30 a.m. Last summer, the office was on Randolph, so it was only a 25-30 minute walk from the station; but this time the office is located a little bit more North. I google mapped it, which told me the walk should take around 30 minutes, but with all the foot traffic, I'm assuming I should factor in an extra 10.

It was pretty chaotic in the office with people running around to and from meetings, trying to maintain the momentum of work from the previous week. I think the arrival of 20 new bodies moving in and trying to set up camp probably didn't help.Yeah, there's nearly 20 of us interns. We're not all together though. The interns have been divided based on department and team. So more than half went to creative, and account/strategy got split into designated accounts. I'm on Bel Brands. You know, the Laughing Cow and those circular cheese wheels that come in little rad wax packing. (I meant red. But it's rad, too.) Those were the hot commodity back in junior high days.

It's fun. I read through all the creative brief and strategy, watch unreleased commercials, sat in on meetings... I resonate with the brand's voice, so I'm excited to be able to touch the campaign in whatever capacity I can. It's a team of about 10 people, including the creatives, strategists, and president. All the interns are given a "mentor," and mine is the Sr. Account Executive on the team. I'll just call her M. But she's super cool and nice and SMART and can't wait to learn from her. Her, along with her friends, and their interns, took us out to lunch today at the Nordstrom Cafe. So we all got to meet each other and have non-biz conversation. Mostly about GOT. (It's always about GOT these days, isn't it?)

Enough words, though. Here's some photos to show you! (:

^ This was on the bus. This weird lady kept trying to guess how much peoples' shoes were. I think she thought she was on "The Price is Right" or something, not public transportation. (Deep apologies if this is your mother and I retract everything I just said. She is probably a lovely woman.)

FIRST DAY TOUR:

^ Sitting right on the kiddie corner of Grand + State... And only ten tempting steps from Nordstrom. DANGEROUS, RIGHT?!

^ welcome inside! :) this is the lobby.

^ My office! (: My desk is the one on the left -- with all those rappers' faces. (It was there before I was, I promise.) On the left, is B's desk. B is also on my team as the Account Coordinator. She was really busy today so we didn't talk too much, but she was super welcoming and helpful.

^ Yes, you are seeing that right. They gave me a PC........................................................ #help. #shouldirun? I have LITERALLY never felt so disabled in my life trying to operate this colossal machine they call a laptop. It took me 20 minutes to figure out how to brighten the screen because the keyboard "sunshine icon" does CRAP. The keyboards are so plastic-y and annoying. The mouse is moves choppy and in order to do ANYTHING, it requires 9 other steps, first. Also, they don't even have an em-dash. If I want to use one, I have to do this. (see photo below):

^ In order to make a punctuation mark, you need to shuffle through 8 other things and then copy and paste it. I've literally been googling "how to do __on a PC" as well as g-chatting my hotdog all day. My hot dog is a PC user by choice. (I know, those exist). Sigh, learning curve, right? Lawl. I'm just being dramatic. But I really do hate PC's. Moving on to other corners of the office... hehe (:

^ That cappuccino maker does WONDERS. So far I've tried the FVL and the Chai Latter.

^ Yes. Yes I did take a panorama of the kitchen.

^ The floor plan is kind of complicated... There's a lot of winding hallways and circular rooms. I don't think I expected the office to be so BIG (and beautiful). Havas has their own building to themselves. It's a five-story office, complete with rooftop seating. (: Which is where we had lunch today! Floors are separated by department; lobby, hr, creatives, account, and media, respectively. So I'm on the fourth floor! All these photos I showed you are only of the fourth floor and I still get lost. Floors are organized into Chicago "neighborhoods," and they're written all along floors and walls to help guide your way... you just need to remember where is called what. I'm in bucktown. (: here's wicker park!

FIRST DAY OUTFIT:

^ I wanted to look buttoned-up, but still comfortable enough to easily do whatever the day's tasks were, so I crossed out a skirt or dress -- and double criss cross on the heels. | Blazer: The Limited | Top: Banana Republic | Pants: NY&Company | Belt & Necklace: Forever 21 | Flats: Italy

DAILY TAKE AWAY:

BTS = back to school

you don't need that 4th cup of coffee -- you will get jittery by 3 p.m.

act confident. even if you don't feel it.

bucktown 1 printer sucks. don't use it.

double check, double chek.

status meetings are essential because so many things are happening at once to each person on the team. these meetings help everyone debrief on where they're at and minimize miscommunication