A BRONZE FRIYAY!

TGIF!

Today I walked into my office and was greeted by all of this, because my office collectively hit a new milestone of Bronze Circle. In my world (Express), that's a big deal, and is indicative of a team that puts in the dirty work. I am surrounded by some incredibly talented people, and we are blessed to have leaders who will go the distance just to say thank you.

happy friday!

And yes, we did. 

fruit and fizzy.. 

Really not a bad way to end the week, at all! I'm so proud to be a part of my team, and thankful every day lately that I'm back in a place where I can fully function, with a team that is right there with me. 

TGIF, ya'll. It's time for me to rest up; tomorrow is going to be a long day ;) 

xo | cms

Sales Contest Winners... Again! :)

'Thank Goodness It's Friday' has never been exclaimed more earnestly.. or desperately, in today's case. It's been a tumultuous week at work, so it was nice when we were able to put the office aside for the weekend and head down to Montgomery Inn to celebrate the successes of the first quarter sales competition... that we won :). 

montgomery inn boathouse | cincinnati, oh

Cincinnati, you're a murky mess in the middle, but you're still beautiful [don't get all offended, 'Natians, you know darn well that this is true...]

sunny day! 

It's been quite a while since I was last at Montgomery Inn, but that doesn't change how delicious I always find it. Chris disappeared momentarily, and returned with a box of celebratory cigars to commemorate our team's winning the first quarter.

3rd in a row! 

express pros - cincinnati central
kristin. cori. clarissa. paul

the whole gang!
front: cori. krstin. melissa. clarissa
back: rob. chris. deb. paul. micah (missing aaron!)

Gathering with the work clan outside of work is always a refreshing and often much-needed change of pace, content and atmosphere, and tonight was no different. 

Congratulations, team... I couldn't be more proud of what how our hard work has materialized like this! ♥

Not a bad way to start off the Mother's Day weekend, I will say that. 

xo | cmd 

Happy Workaversary To Me!

Once upon a time, I started a job with this company called Express: 

my first express family : cincinnati east, oh
photo circa 2010

I'll never forget it - March 15, 2010: It was a Monday, and it was my first day on this new job I'd found on Craigslist, at a place I'd never heard of a month before that. I jumped in with both feet and remember very clearly my first full week at Express Employment Professionals: computer training [yay!]. It was an overload of information, a time I look back at and laugh at how many pages of notes I took, on things I wouldn't need to know, really. I had no idea where that job would take me, or if it would lead to anything at all that would be stable, or permanent.

When the news came down that I'd be moving to Illinois, I lost a lot of tears grasping the idea of leaving behind one of the best teams on which I'd ever been. And then, I met Marc & Diana, and became part of their team as a transfer. As part of that team, I would go on to experience almost 3 years of team restructuring, process adjustment and even an office expansion. I became a staffing consulant, and eventually grew into a sr. staffing consultant role. I met Ali, who is now one of my best friends, as a product of working together there, and still to this day have lasting communication and friendships with that team. 

my 2nd express family: glen carbon, il
photo circa 2012

The decision to move back to Ohio wasn't the easiest thing in the world, but out of that came the opportunity for me to work alongside Dave and Elisa [& some other endearing characters: Nancy, Lizzy & Nikki.. and then some other more questionable thankfully short-lived cast members, but I digress >_<...] 

my 3rd express family: cinci central [part 1]
photo circa 2014

It wouldn't become the longterm Cinci Central family unit, but the time I spent working with each of them is invaluable.

Then came the revolution; Dave sold the business to Paul, Elisa went to grad school in Chicago and the last toxic cell was cut from the team all in the span of a couple months. From there was born the new and battle-ready Cinci Central team. It's a world of difference in dynamic, but we're steadying the foundation together and it's amazing to see how far we've come!

my [technically] 4th express family: cinci central [part 2!]
+ our significant others, along with chris & deb!
photo circa 2016

It's been a crazy ride: 3 different offices, 4 franchise owners, a multitude of different co-workers, events, seminars and the like. I wouldn't trade it for anything; this place is just as much a part of me as the 8+hours we invest into it daily throughout the week. I never would've envisioned myself working for a company like this, but now that I do, I'm grateful for every chaotic minute and wouldn't have it any other way. 

Six years later, here I am - still in one piece and ready to see what's next. 

Let's go, year 7! 

xo | cmd

Fridays CAN Be Fun! ;)

I started off the day by waking up to a head of hair that had apparently been through a battle royale overnight; my Spanish genes apparently came out victorious after I'd gone to sleep on wet hair... curls for Friday it was!

And then there was the matter of appropriate and sufficient caffeination:

^ This little guy sparked a variety of comments, from my sweet friends complimenting the lion's mane, to Rob, of course, who attempted and succeeded at borrowing a spot in the limelight of my post. My question: Who wore it better?! ♥♥

who wore it best? 

I didn't realize until after I'd posted this that Mare, aaaalll the way over there in Vermont, was having a similar Stanley-fueled morning:

I have such like-minded friends ♥♥...

Work was a blur, like it usually is, but I have a renewed energy in me this week, I think due mostly to the fact that I'll have a support person back here on the staffing side in just one more week. I can hang on until then, I'm pretty sure.

And just in case I wasn't sure, my team and I were pleasantly but completely surprised when the Pizza Hut delivery guy came sweeping into our office, clad with two pizzas that had been bought and sent to us by one of our truck-driving associates.

I mean... we have an incredible crew of associates who work for us, but it's times like this that stressful weeks remind me that the people we're helping are looking out for us too. You know who you are, sir, and we want to say thanks to YOU!!

many, many thanks!! :) 

The successes of today were not small, nor infrequent. We're feeling a bit ragged I'm sure, but not in vain. My team is amazing :).

The day didn't end at 5:00 - it was far from it! I mentioned earlier that we'd won a sales contest; it's a big deal for us, given that we're in the running for this against 8 other local offices, and we only have 1 staffing consultant right now. It's a team effort, and it's paid off! We celebrated tonight with dinner at Hofbrahaus, followed by a comedy show at Funnybone.

express cinci central (& co.) 

Whew. What a night! Yes, this is backdated; we pulled up to the house around 1am, and straight to bed it was for me; an early morning and a 4-hour drive to Cleveland awaited me on the other side. 

Happy Friday, and happy weekend to each of you out there. Enjoy!! 

xo | cmd

Laney's Birthday | Fearfest

There is nothing better for me than to wake up on a Friday to this:

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

^ And I just realized her pj pants read yolo. Good grief, really? *sigh.... oh well. In her case, we'll let that stand for, "you're only little once," and leave it at that. Anyway, with or without stupid phrases on her pants, this little girl made my entire day just by being there when I woke up.

And then.. I realized today is...

LANEY'S BIRTHDAY!!!!!

eeeeiiiii!!!! happy birthday, laney!!!!

I hate when I can't be around to celebrate my friends' birthdays with them.. but this gal knows I love her bunches and will absolutely make a cheers to it the next time we see each other [which, who knows when that will be.. she's in Oklahoma!] Happy, HAPPY... HAPPY birthday wishes, to you, L-Bug!! You deserve the best.. keep making those dreams a reality and being that example of how hard work PAYS OFF! So proud of this girl & can't wait to see her again soooon!

And thennnn.. after work - which let out a half hour early because my bosses are amazing - it was home for a quick change and then off to Mason for a night at King's Island's Fearfest with some of the other Express folks from the other offices.

We had a blaaaast. I am definitely glad I went.

express folk! [sorry this is grainy!]
kate. chris. deb. jess | amber. brandi. cori.

boogity boogity boooo... ;)

And last but definitely not least: Our favorite of the evening, of Chris stuck in his seat at the end of the Drop Tower.. hahaha.. Ohhhh, Chris.... (:

chris... c'mon, we're leaving!

Hahah. Many thanks to my bosses, & the Eastgate owners for toting us all around PKI for [my first adventure ever, visiting] Fearfest!

 

Tomorrow = Soccer & Great Wolf Lodge with Syd & my parents!

Can't waaaaaaaait!

 

xo | cmd

I Have Lovely Coworkers!

I remember [very clearly] the days of sitting at my desk, wondering nearly aloud how in the world I would ever survive my job on a long-term basis. It was my first real job out of college, and it was one of the most.... unique ... experiences of my life. I'll sum it up by saying simply that I learned a lot over those two years about what type of work I really loved, what I didn't love, and that the life to which I'd become accustomed to was actually not rational... or justified... or really even normal, for that matter. That was excellent news for me, considering I wasn't sure that my sanity would withstand that job for much longer than I spent there. Hah. It was an absolute God thing: the timing, the specific situation, and the introduction to the job I have now, with a company purposed to helping people, as opposed to soliticing them for money they don't have for a product they essentially don't need. It's a beautiful feeling, absolutely!!


my first express family | cinci east, 1663!
cori. deb. chris. brandi. jess | circa christmas 2010
miss you guys :)

I additionally believe that a large part of enjoying any job is built around the people with whom you interact on a daily, hourly, consistent basis. Since I started with Express, even back in Cincinnati [hi, 1663!! ♥], I realized that coworkers and bosses as a whole concept are not in fact evil deities employed to complicate my life. I no longer loathed office jobs; in fact I found myself developing a quick and genuine sense of endearment for my job, my company, my coworkers, and my bosses. Work became fluid and fruitfully productive [whaaat??], and for the first time ever, I was proud to say I worked for my company, instead of timid and robotic, like before. Haha.



yay, nancy! happy 1-yr expressaversary! here's to many more ;)

Alllll that being said, I now find myself surrounded by all women and one gentleman in an office that drives me up one wall and down the other at least once a week, but I love it. Even since I transferred in, there've been change after change, slowly but surely pushing us in a forward direction. Today in particular marked the 1-year Expressaversary for the only SC who predates my merging with this office. Congratulations, Nancy!! You definitely have an accomplishment under your belt! We celebrated with some balloons, congratulatory signs, and a gooey butter cake, compliment of Diana. Not a bad way to celebrate, that's for sure :)



shoe envy! itty bitty beauties for
a little lady with a huge heart: meagan!

 Oh, and because I work with some of the trendiest gals this side of the river, I couldn't help myself last night when I made a pitstop off at Target. My original intention was to exchange a damaged item I'd bought last week, but I must've blacked out momentarily; when I came to, I had plucked up an impassible pair of cork wedges on clearance, and another equally-adorable pair of pumps in a much smaller, much more Meagan-appropriate size. I couldn't help it; I figured that even though they were clearly too small for my collection, someone needed to own them! I'm still suffering from mild shoe envy, but hey, she sported them today once I gave them to her, and from that I'm satisfied. Hah.

My coworkers are the best. :) It's definitely gonna be a great year.

Happy mid-week to you, and all of YOUR coworkers!!

xo | cmd