The 2011 Assignment

With a new assignment comes new routines, new faces, new responsibilities. One routine that is the same no matter where you work is the morning routine.

Set your alarm, snooze. Well I have been snoozing more often than usual and running around because of it! Another part of the morning routine is keeping up with my fashion in the workplace. The latest assignment will definitely challenge me to keep up in the fashion place both in a casual atmosphere but around lots of other young and trendy women. The casual atmosphere is my #1 challenge since most of my wardrobe leans on the professional/business side of dress codes. Part of my morning routine I want to protect is the worship hour we have at 7am. Even though I haven’t buckled down my driving route, I get to stay for the better part of our morning worship and prayer.

Speaking of driving, traffic is SUCH a drag at 745AM and 545PM. Man oh man its taking me about 45 minutes to get through downtown! It’s a naturally stressful situation but I really feel like I can utilize the morning drive for some quiet time with the Lord and decompress at night on the way home.

My lunch routine is having to do a quick “reset” since I haven’t had the schedule or money to really eat right. My first day on the job I wandered down the street and found a Pei Wei close by where I got a “Tofu and Veggie Lo Mein” to-go. It’s lasted me 2 lunches so far! Fruit, soda and coffee are up for grabs all day in different areas which is definitely a nice addition from the Convention Center.

I’m very thankful for a 40-hr work week for the next 4 months! I am excited about the opportunity and feel like its going to be a great season! I will continue to share some of the fun and weird things I discover on my journey as a temp.

First assignment of the year

The Mary Kay Seminar is going on at the Convention Center and its almost like a reunion as all of the familiar faces from the convention bureau come together to eat breakfast an hour before work, stand on their feet all day and greet the excited and sparkly attendees!

For my fashion in the workplace corner I would like to point out that often I don't see fashionable, yet professional styles on people our age. The few suites and dresses that I think "Oh I'd wear that" are almost always pencil skirts. Today I saw a few dresses at registration on professional woman that were very fashionable and I'd like to invest in. I found a few similar ones on H&M that I would say look business professional but still have a trendy, stylish look for young woman. Here are a few links:

Dress - from H&M

http://www.hm.com/gb/s/00HFBS

Figure-fit strapless dress with corset panels and a concealed silicone trim on the inside and a zip at the back. Seam at the waist with wide elastication and pockets at the front. Lined. Length centre back 26½"/67 cm in size 14.

www.hm.com

Dress - from H&M

http://www.hm.com/gb/s/007TN7

Figure-fit dress with a patent belt at the waist and zip at the back. Jacquard-weave lining. Length 36½"/93 cm in size 14. Slightly stretchy fabric with a lustre.

www.hm.com

Dress - from H&M

http://www.hm.com/gb/s/00K1GG

Figure-fit dress with all-over decorative pleats and wide elastication at the waist. Lined. Length 36½"/93 cm in size 14.

www.hm.com

My absolute favorite part of these dresses is they're worn with a coat, cardigan or sweater, heels and hose: it's taken seriously. Remove the coat and hose and I can go out in it or wear as a summer dress. Versatile, I'm all about work and pleasure!

I'm still really into the pencil skirt look and always check out how other professional woman are wearing them. Today I saw a girl wearing a pencil skirt with a baggy floral tank top tucked in and surprisingly LOVED it.

Skirt - from H&M

http://www.hm.com/gb/s/01BQEJ

Pencil skirt with a detachable patent belt around the waist. Lined. Length 23¼"/59 cm in size 14.

www.hm.com

New Look - from H&M

http://www.hm.com/gb/s/01BQEK

Products in this look:

Shoes, Top, Skirt, Braceletwww.hm.com

KNEE LENGTH FORMAL SKIRT

The Mary Kay seminar ends this week so I'm really hoping and praying for an HR assignment to come in that will go through the next few months. Be looking out for more blogs through the eyes of this temp...

Photo blog on the DART Rail

If you haven't visit the Dallas local DART Rail, you should! I'm a huge advocate of public transportation (Be Green!) and the counter cultural experience it is. You need to get out and get dirty! From inside, looking through a window and arriving to my destination, here is my experience on my 20 minute train ride from Downtown Dallas to my train station.

This is the way the ladies ride, all through downtown!

These photos were brought to you by my new BlackBerry curve camera. Thanks Kathy for my new phone!

The REAL Office Games

Oh boy! The noon pep talk when you tell yourself you're halfway there and take extra long in the bathroom so you can stir up the boldness to leave. Should I hold out to eat until 1? Or will food give me the strength to live? I always count down

At 11 I tell myself "1 hour left until lunch"
At 1, when it's only been 5 minutes since lunch I try and hold my first bathroom break until 2.
At 230-300 i might reward myself with a tea or soda if I can hold out till 4!
The games I play in my mind all day to survive the 8-5...

Update: I made it til 2 to use the ladies room today! I'm going to try and do without the soda especially since I haven't started Zumba!

40-hr work week!

"The Organization Queen" by recent assignment supervisor

Note: This blog was written on Friday, November 19, 2010.
I’m back in the game for about 4 months. Temping will be a huge part of the next season in my life! We left Florida at 11PM on Saturday night and drove for 24-hours. I had an 8am assignment Monday morning and wrestled in the back row trying to sleep for my 40-hr work week! Monday was a rough one on many levels. My supervisor was 45 minutes late, my phone broke on the way to meet Kacy for lunch (thanks for switching the location, Kace) and I was out of gas.

My day only got better when I got home and found my carpet soaking from the washer and a board in my bed frame broke. Awesome! I was exhausted, mentally and physically. Tuesday was day 2 of my HR Asst with the emphasis of auditing personnel files. That’s a glorified way to say “File, sort, file, purge, file, sort, file, shred.” But they pay me the BIG BUCKS: having HR experience makes me an “expert” on confidential files and such. (Except when I left the office with a personnel file open and an associate comes in and the director of HR has to throw a piece of paper on top, sorry!)

I rushed from that temp job to the house to pick up my mom for training at Katho’s work for front desk/receptionist “training” for Friday. I suckered a sushi dinner out of it, thanks Katho!

Wednesday I didn’t think it would be possible to still be filing and my fingers hurt from squeezing the fat tips between 100s of different files that are too squished together. I decided to wear pants on Day 3 since I’m laying on the floor and climbing up stools to get to said files. Papers everywhere. I mean I found documents from the 80’s and stuff that was misfiled or inappropriately filed. The correct terminology at this place is “Active and In-Active Files.” Most of it is standard HR stuff (EEO, Affirmative Action, I-9s, WOTC, Vet status) but they have some funky stuff I’ve never seen.

Thursday my right middle finger started to swell with a weird whitish bubble around the nail. OUCHIE! Luckily I didn’t do as much squeezing finger tips between folders as I did sorting. Paper cuts, watch out! I wore heels and my supervisor commented on wearing heels to file. I can’t get over dressing down when everyone is in ties and business professional unless I’m hiding in a hole somewhere filing. But I’m out in the open and my readers (HAHA, are you out there?) need to see my fashion statements in the work place! Keepin’ it real!

Culinary Corner: Everyday there was a special training so we had a BBQ place come in and bring lots of unkosher meats and yummy jalapeno hash brownsthey had biscuits and gravy without meat! SCORE! But the coffee tasted like chlorine. Monday I had quinoa with amino acids. Tuesday I ate left over spinach enchiladas thanks to my lovely brother, Corin. Wednesday I had a roll, apple, and fruit because I didn’t want quinoa, again. Thursday I had a veggie soft taco with a tiny portion of mashed potatoes, stuffing, and green bean casserole. Probably all with chicken stock and who knows what other animal parts! Side note: Elysa is eating raw right now and I’m hoping to brain storm with her this weekend and see what she’s planning on doing next week so I can join the fun! Friday I am wearing skinny brown jeans, flats and a white sweater dress.

Its casual Friday but again, I can’t do jeans and tennies at work unless I’m in the basement with the rats! Luckily I didn’t throw out my golden rule because there is a workshop all day here. I spent 5 hours on FB, blogs, and texting until after lunch the blinds were “mysteriously opened” and the whole workshop thinks I’m working on a document instead of surfing the net-HA! I took the DART into downtown for $1.75 (per trip) instead of the $9 parking fee in the building. OUCH! I’ve said it before and it won’t be the last: I absolutely LOVE public transportation. I wish I lived in downtown so I could utilize it more. When the boys are bigger I’m gonna take them to the zoo and we’re gonna ride the TRE and spend our Saturdays on the trains so that they’re not afraid of the city and the homeless that inhabit the bus stops and DART stations. *sings* In New York, New York! Big lights will inspire you, lets hear it for…” Yeah, I wish. I had an apple and fruit cup for lunch. I don’t really feel like left over stir fry and I’m super excited for another Indian Shabbat! WHOOHOO!

Nervous jitters

Tomorrow is the big day.
The first day back in the workforce.
The first day back on the job. And I have butterflies!

Will I find the place?
How long will it take to get there?
What should I wear? Is it over/under dressed, nice or trashy?
What will the people be like?
Will they be nice? Friendly?
Can I perform and deliver? Will I know how to answer phones, help their clients? Am I experience enough for this?


After I got the call from my temp agency today I did a little bit of a "fashion show" for my mom and any willing person to give me feedback on the different professional clothing I was pulling out of every nook and cranny of my mom's closet. Since all the room re-arranging I don't really have a closet and thankfully my mom saved most of my "professional attire."

When I asked my mom if I look young and fashionable she told me not to go too much younger because I am in my mid 20's now! I couldn't believe it! I'm growing up... =)

The reception/admin gig is only 2 days (Fri and Mon). I kinda hate short, job hopping but it can be a fun experience.

Between world traveling, band touring and community living, the life of a temp is almost a nice break from the wild adventures I have been on.

Now I need to get a good night's sleep...

Santa crazy!

How funny that so much time has gone by since I've written a blog! When my assignment got busy I took every extra hour they would give me! I'm so blessed with where RemX placed me and where the Lord has allowed me to spend these last few months. Some of our fun included shopping for flapper dresses. We spent the whole afternoon out for lunch and shopping! Even though the extra hours spent on planning the manager's holiday luncheon: Murder Mystery Theatre - Four Deuces, was a headache...I LOVE MY FLAPPER DRESS!!! I made up about 10 extra character's for manager's to play for the event and EVERYONE had an awesome time!

Culinary Corner: Lots of variety has been added this last month. The HR director treated us to the hotel's restaurant 3 times for work meetings. My first try I had the fish of the day: halibit with purple potatoes and lots of appetizers. The second time at the restaurant I tried their squash soup and margaritta pizza with mushrooms. AMAZING! Last but not least I tried their chicken pasta without pasta, it was pretty good but the fish was def my fav from the month. We've had a few other outings that even brought us to an Irish Pub where I had a caesar and tomatoe soup. Hillary ordered a plate of fried potatoe chips that came with 3 dipping sauces. And just Tuesday we had Maggiano's where I tried their Eggplant Parmagiane lunch special. I could eat THAT everyday! Did I mention I'm struggling to stay at the weight I was at during Thanksgiving? AHHH, and I've only been to Zuma like 3 times this month!!!!

The most treasured office supplies have been tape and scissors since we've been wrapping presents for 3 weeks straight! From Sweets with Santa to a Holiday Managers lunch I've wrapped over 200 presenst! MYSELF! I showed pictures after Thanksgiving when I spent the whole day in the office wrapping. Well this week I was wrapping for an employee that we adopted. They have 5 boys including 18 month old twins! It was an awesome event to be apart of.



My director asked me to share with the hotel an opportunity to feed the poor, a kinda community service thing for the holidays. So I posted flyers sharing about Shady Grove's Christmas meal and a couple of girls were interested. It was cool to get recognition in an area that is dear and near to my heart and also give opportunity for others to give back to our metroplex. The 3 of us served about 60 homeless people through the event and I was so excited to see my church open up their hands to the poor!

Well I was the only HR represenative at work on Wednesday and I got a lot of little jobs done with my little 14 year old volunteer, Nushen. We have been filing, organizing and getting stuff ready for next week. At lunch some of the ladies joked that we must be spending the day playing solitaire and on facebook...apparently that's what THEY do when the boss is away. I like for my director to come back with piles of papers gone and the office lookign better than when she left it. =) Maybe I'm THAT kid who did their homework too. Hehe

Fashion in the workplace has been a bit sketchy. I have at least 1 or 2 pictures from each week I've missed. I had 2 repeats this month, not bad for working at this site for about 8 weeks! Can you tell which outfit I repeated?

A special feature this week is Lisa's notable fashion in the workplace this week. She looked great and I wanted to feature her on this blog for her effort and success at finding fashion in the workplace. Mucho caliente ;)