day 19

Today I am grateful for my education and my career. I'm grateful to BYU for putting up with me for several years. I am glad I discovered what I wanted to do and felt so great about it. I distinctly remember a moment at school when I was working on a project and I realized that this is exactly what I want to do. This is perfect for me. I loved majoring in Communications. I loved emphasizing in Public Relations. Even my minor in Business was helpful too (although the finance classes were sorta snoozers).

I am grateful for my capstone class and the cool friends I made there. We worked on a cool PR campaign for the BYU College of Nursing. One of my friends still calls me to this day to ask my opinion on grammar or office management or even salary!

I am grateful for my internship at Utah Valley State College in the College Relations program. I made some great friends, I wrote for a magazine, I created press releases, and I had some cool projects in the "portfolio" afterwards.

I am grateful for my coooool job as a copy editor of the BYU newspaper, The Daily Universe. I LOVE COPY EDITING. I love AP style. I love grammar and usage and rules. My how I love rules. Editing is such fun. (I was actually really saddened when I read the Universe was going to digital-only. So lame. I love newspapers.)

I loved my teeeeeny tiny stint at the California Real Estate Journal. Look at me, a journalist for a newspaper in LA! For literally 3 months! I got that job because I was a killer editor :-) I took a "skills test," and then Diane, the editor of the paper, reviewed my test during our interview. She was ridiculously impressed at some of the stuff I caught, and by the time I drove home from the interview she had already left me a message offering me the job. AWESOME. (I just went to find the link to the CREJ and found it folded in 2010. Bummer. The editor they mention in the article, Michael, I worked with him and he's the first person I ever heard use the word "ergonomic" in a sentence. Seriously.)

I am grateful for the amazing job I got at a structural engineering firm in Seattle, at Magnusson Klemencic Associates. I was in their marketing department, helping them get projects by putting together proposals, managing the database, working on exciting marketing/PR projects, and more. How funny that it was another job in the real estate industry? I had an office on the 32nd floor of a skyscraper in Seattle, with a cool view of the water and the Space Needle. Whenever my friends or family came to town, I always took them to the office to check out the view. I LOVED working there. LOVED it. I only expected to be there 2 years; I stayed for almost 8. I worked full-time for 4 years, then part time for 3. When Laurel came along, the day-care-income cost ratio looked less attractive, so I made the hard decision to quit. My last day there was a year ago Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. I'm so glad basically no one was in the office at 6 PM as I cleaned my desk. I returned all my paper clips and pens to the work room, with tears streaming down my face. I loved it there. I loved being appreciated for my brain, for feeling like I could really do good things and make a difference -- and getting paid for it! I understand so much has changed in just a year... two of my co-workers have also quit and been replaced, they renovated the office, AND they hired a gazillion new people in other departments. I probably wouldn't even recognize it. But it stays in my blood, for sure. Whenever I read an article in the paper about this fancy new stadium or that sexy real estate deal, I wonder if the folks at MKA know what's going on. They always do!

And now, I have a small part-time job for another structural engineering organization, a Foundation that gives scholarships to engineering students and puts on educational forums and such. It's funny because I thought I was done with working, but the CEO from MKA called me at home, just a month after Laurel was born, asking me if I'd be interested in something part-time and in the industry. Wow! It's like, they came after me!

I AM JUST SO GLAD I HAVE A BRAIN! I'm so glad BYU helped me cultivate that brain! Lucky me to be pursued for a job! It's been good to have some extra income. This house costs a lot to maintain.

So yes. Thank you all my teachers and professors, thank you to my bosses and co-workers. I am so grateful.