I packed up my desk in a bankers box today. Tomorrow’s my last day at Canon :(. My heart is breaking right now but as sad as I am, I also feel ready at the same time; ready to turn the page, make new waves, and start writing the next beautiful chapter. Thank you Canon for 3.5 *amazing* years!
I saw this teddy bear on the kitchen floor – it was Chris’ mom’s dog’s toy. Despite a little raggedy, it had so much potential so I adopted it for a photo and sat it on top of a gift box in front of the Christmas tree and here we are. A heartfelt merry christmas to you and yours! I hope you’re spoiled absolutely rotten! xoxo
Even as life gets busier and busier, we try to make time once a year at Christmas to round up the Ryerson Business Management troop. We were missing a few key people this year but the full crew is hard to come by and we appreciate and make do with whoever we can get. :) It was sooo nice to see everyone. It’s funny how despite all the growing and developing we go through year over year, things still don’t change all that much once we’re all together. Although a little bit older now, having a meal together still feels exactly like lunch breaks at the Eaton Centre food court before Accounting class. The same people still get picked on. The same jokes come around. The loudest is still the loudest. And the most quiet is still the most quiet. This was the crew that worked together on everything and more or less aced the program. :) Everyone is successfully rocking in their fields and careers have taken off. I’m so proud. Love you guys to bits.
Despite all of my expenses next year, I will manage to squeeze in even a little trip. I cannot / refuse to go a year without traveling.
We’ve been struck by an ice storm and it’s one of those snuggle under the blankets, watch movies like Love Actually, and sip on warm coffee/tea all day… days. :) Three sleeps until Christmas day! We had an amazing reunion with the Ryerson gang last night and it was such a good time. I’ve been slowly catching up on seeing friends and loved ones and it’s filling me with holiday warm and fuzzies.
Chris and I watched The Seasoning House over the weekend (in place of Love Actually because we couldn’t find it on Netflix or Zune but how I wish we had seen it instead). I have to say that I haven’t been messed up by a movie in a long time and considering how frequently I watch horror movies and how desensitized I am, it’s a point worth noting. This one was so disturbing. I recommend it and I don’t recommend it. I guess it depends if you want your eyes opened to some serious darkness or if ‘ignorance is bliss’ is preferred. I think the potential realness of the subject of the film and the fact that the events that took place could very well exist in the world, is what makes it so heavy for me. But anyway… I’m still trying to erase it from my memory. We’re getting there…
On a brighter note, Chris and I went Christmas shopping during the snow storm on Saturday (lol), and we got it all done. :)
I’ve decided to transition to Schulich’s full time MBA program starting January 2014 in order to maximize the learning experience and potential of this amazing opportunity. This has been by far the hardest decision I’ve had to make because I had to choose between two things that are extremely important to me and that I absolutely love. I went back and forth on this for months and months and couldn’t have been more indecisive about it – Chris was losing all patience. But after 65 conversations, several versions of our five-year plan, multiple pros and cons charts, and simply more thinking than you can imagine, school weighed in a bit stronger. Ultimately, I want to give either my work or my continuing education 120% of my time, energy, and efforts. 120% in each of these two places is humanly impossible and something will end up giving and that just won’t fly with me, so school is going to take precedent for now! You reap what you sow with everything you do. If you put in 80%, you’ll get 80% in results. If you put in 120%, you’ll get 120% in results.
Truly, it is with the most bittersweet emotions that I part with Canon. The last 3.5 years at the company have been years that I cherish. They were packed with learning, growing, building relationships, and making lifelong friends. The company has been nothing but good to me and for that I am grateful. The photo below is the team that I joined at the beginning of this year and is also the last team I will work with at Canon. We had our holiday dinner this evening. They are amazing and I will miss them so much.
Here are some blog posts to prove how much I LOVED my journey at Canon. There are definitely a whole lot more posts about my work life but these were the ones that came to mind first so I dug for them.
Here I raved about how memorable my business trip to Montreal was.
Here I raved about how my business trip to Calgary was the best trip ever.
Here I raved about the awesome people I’ve met at work.
Here I captured PROM at the ROM with two of my favourite Canon girls.
Here I captured the fun my former team had with Movember.
Here I captured my Easter Seals Telethon experience.
Here I captured my portfolio feature in the myCanon publication.
Here I captured the Canon Experience Centre in Calgary.
Last but CERTAINLY not least, Canon is where I found my soon-to-be husband. Need I say more? :) My last day is December 31st and then I am officially a full time student until December 2014. Life is getting more exciting by the minute and the world has never felt more like my oyster.
Just to loop back on the Finance exam, I wrote it last night. It was difficult as hell but I managed and am confident that I did well enough to finish the course with a strong mark. Hard work never fails. I am a free bird for about 2.5 weeks and can’t wait to get into the holiday spirit and get back into some more wedding planning!
Have a wonderful night. I’ll have more time to blog often next year, I’m sure of it!
The fact that I’ve found a 20-minute window to blog is a miracle. I took the week off to get ready for my Finance exam in about a week and a half and to work on my Skills for Leadership monster of a final project due in a week. I was up by 9am every day of the week and grinded until 11pm. It has been 6 days straight of that grind and I’m still not done. Next week is the home stretch and then this semester is officially over. I’m actually in a working daze and feel a bit disjointed. The dishes in the sink are getting old and gross, my dog is feeling abandoned, Chris is feeling abandoned…
On a brighter note, I do understand Finance better and better every day, thanks to two amazing souls. It is not every day that you find people who are willing to take chunks of time out of their day to help you understand Finance. I’ve been extremely resourceful this semester, more so than before because the course has definitely taken me for a ride and without seeking out the extra support that I needed to learn the material more deeply, I’d have a much weaker shot at doing well.
The notion that “Finance is boring” is absolutely not true and you are totally hearing this from a marketer and photographer. I find Finance extremely stimulating and I think that it is an incredibly interesting and useful field of study. It is also hard as hell, much harder than Accounting, so I have a new found respect for CFA designations. I appreciate the material from the bottom of my heart; my brain is just not wired quite perfectly for it to be exceptional at the subject, although it does try and try.
I’m doing everything that I can to learn the material and all I can say for the exam is, come what may. :)
Oh! I’m also trying energy drinks… I like them. A lot.
The other night in my Skills for Leadership class we were discussing the power of being able to see differently. For instance, the way you see someone (in your realm of influence) has the power to actually impact the way they seem themselves. This may seem common sense but we don’t often consciously think about these things. For instance, if I made you feel smart and capable, you are more likely to feel and believe that you are indeed smart and capable, and because that belief would build your confidence, you are more likely to do more and do well. If I made you feel stupid and incapable, you are more likely to feel or believe that you are stupid and incapable, and because that belief would adversely impact your confidence, you are less likely to apply yourself and do well. Numerous studies have been conducted to show that if you treated criminals (certain types) like university students rather than social delinquents, they will never commit another crime. The way you see, treat, communicate with, or project your thoughts about a person to that person, has an impact on how they see themselves. I think it’s an incredibly powerful tool and is one of many golden nuggets for leaders to hone in on. It’s easier said than done but just the simple awareness of it is sure to make a difference. (Self)-awareness is the first step to any behavioural changes!
On another note, this has been my crazy day: had a meeting bright and early this morning with our wedding decor team, studied, had lunch, studied some more, napped because I could no longer focus, studied some more, blogged, then off to a tutoring session for Finance in about 5 minutes, and then catching a movie. Happy Saturday!
If you haven’t already noticed, I’ve re-named my blog. It is with bittersweet emotions that I retire A Photo A Day. Life has gotten so busy that taking a photo a day is virtually impossible. In fact, it has been impossible for a while but in failing to let go and trying to hold on to the roots of the blog for as long as possible, I procrastinated the re-naming. I was also too busy to think about it, to be honest. But after some brainstorming, I got it done and the new blog name is Picture My World. I tried to come up with a name that I would never have to change again even if my life continued to evolve and I think this one can do just that. The idea behind Picture My World was to capture the photographs I take that portray the way I see beauty around me alongside the random notes and journal entries I write up. My pictures and writings collectively are a window into my world, and therefore, Picture My World. :) I am writing this during my 15-minute class break so forgive the hasty explanation!
I need to update a few areas in this blog like the About section to reflect some of these changes, but we’ll save that for another day.
Side note: Today is Chris and my anniversary – I love the man dearly.
Blogging again, yay! I bought pearl earrings today – I’m going through a phase. I also bought some really obnoxious phone cases.
Today I brought up the fact that I reminisce to old times and look at old photos quite often and that it brings me so much warmth, joy, and nostalgia. I’m a total memory keeper and I want everything in my life documented in some way. Chris on the other hand is not a reminiscer and documents almost nothing in his life. So we made an agreement today. Documenting is easily more important than not documenting, so it was no subject of debate. Starting from our wedding day, he is the designated videographer of our lives while I am the designated photographer. He will learn to take videos. We’re going to arm him with a Go Pro camera and strap it around his forehead permanently so that we’ll have decades of sweet, nostalgic footage and memories of us and our family, :), lol. I’m totally kidding about strapping it around his forehead but we laughed pretty hard at the thought of it. The bottom line is, I want tons of candid home videos on top of photographs.
To rewind a little bit – we were actually at my parents’ house last weekend and my mom and dad pulled out an old home video of my 4th birthday party and it was the most beautiful thing to watch as an adult today. I obviously know how important it is to document events and memories and I value it more than words can say but watching that home video and seeing such amazing footage made me turn to Chris and say, “we’re going to videotape and photograph absolutely EVERYTHING.” It is all you have when that memory chip no longer serves and things get fuzzier as time passes.
