So Lucky

Yesterday was definitely a bit of a rough day for me and my family because of a health crisis involving a close family friend, but, at the end of the day, I found myself feeling so thankful for some pretty wonderful people in my life.  I was thankful for my parents, with whom I had a nice conversation about everything that was going on.  I was thankful for dear friends who sent along encouraging messages throughout the day.  I was thankful for my rockstar boyfriend, who let me have an "off-day" and be sad, no questions asked, and went out of his way to make the end of my day an improvement from the beginning (he succeeded!), for which I am eternally grateful (yes, everyone has off-days!).  Finally, I got a wonderful surprise at the end of the day when I got a call from my little brother.  Texts, much less calls, from him are typically few and far between, so this was certainly a pleasant surprise.  I have said before that I really try to always be in the practice of feeling and expressing gratitude for all of my many blessings, but it's on tough days when consciously taking time out of your day to count your blessings makes your day look a whole lot brighter.

Today is definitely going a bit better, and I have lots of exciting things to look forward to for the rest of this week and this weekend. Tonight I have what I'm sure will be another great night with my guy to look forward to, followed by happy hour with a family friend tomorrow, dinner with Dan's parents on Friday (!!), and plans with scores of girlfriends this weekend!  And next week is 4th of July!  And we have so many fun weekend plans for the weekend after 4th of July!  And then Boston is the next week! I'm totally getting ahead of myself, but I'm so excited!

I hope you're all having a good week so far!  Happy Hump Day!  I will post more about what made yesterday so difficult at a later date.

A Little Bit of Kindness Goes a Long Way

I was really excited to come to work today because, at one point yesterday, a coworker popped into my office to ask me if I wanted to grab coffee this morning and just "catch up".  I think that this particular coworker is an absolutely wonderful person, so I was very touched by the gesture.  When we got to the coffee shop and grabbed our drinks, she wanted to just chat, not about work but about life in general.  The fact that she came to the office early to just chat with me about life really meant a lot to me, and it was nice to get the perspective of a slightly older coworker, who, I believe, thinks very similarly to the way that I do.  One thing that I value about my office is that my coworkers and I do take a genuine interest in each other's lives, and that is a quality that I would absolutely look for in another workplace (it's funny how, despite only being on my first post-college job, I have learned so much about the qualities that I value in an office!).  Anyway, it was a wonderful start to my day, and I look forward to hopefully being able to do that again soon.

I have also had a great week so far because of some of the feedback I have been getting at work.  Everyone involved in our event this weekend was so impressed with how it had gone, and my office superiors got very positive feedback from both the seminar participants and members of the partner organization, the latter of whom I worked closely with in the weeks leading up to the event, several of those weeks in the absence of my supervisor.  Something that I have learned about being in this job is to accept compliments graciously when they come, however uncomfortable I may feel when I am in that position.  I was showered with praise by several members of our team, and my boss even sent an email to the dean of the school in which she mentioned that my supervisor and I, who worked directly on this event, are "assets to the school."  The recognition of my hard work really has been a huge confidence boost, so I look forward to hopefully continuing to assume more responsibility!  We have a summer intern starting on Monday who I will be managing, and I think that should be a huge opportunity for professional growth for me!

I bet you're surprised that I wrote about work, right?!  I realized that I almost never write about it!  But this event was an exciting accomplishment, both for me personally and for our school as a whole.  Many participants said that, while we had not been on their radar before, they were so impressed with our school that they will definitely consider it when applying.  These are students we really want too!!

I also got to have a wonderful evening with Dan last night.  We made a mac & cheese casserole (if you lived with me in The Burrow, you will probably remember it), which is one of Dan's favorites, and watched reruns of How I Met Your Mother.  It was a far cry from the stress that we were under last week, which made me so happy :)  I have the day off on Friday, and I am looking forward to some outlet shopping with my mom during the day, and then a chill evening with Dan.  He is cashing in on the home-cooked dinner that he won when he beat me at mini-golf (which I still bear physical scars from haha- my wound is still swollen!), so it should be a nice, romantic, RELAXING Friday evening :)