Windermere, Quelf, & IKEA

Advance Notice: Lots of Pictures!!!

Last Friday Sean and I went to the temple for a ward temple night. (Just like my BFF Cara, we have a goal to go to the temple every month too!) We arrived late (lame excuse of traffic) so we did Initiatories instead. It was my first time since my first time and it was so beautiful. We got done early so we got to go sit in the Celestial Room by ourselves. The last time we were by ourselves in the celestial room was our wedding day....special.

Anyway, we got done early and we were waiting outside for everyone else and we decided to have some fun Meagan and Sean time. The pictures are proof of our experience.

Because my sister lives 10 minutes from the temple, we decided to stay for the weekend. We played this game called QUELF a couple of times. It's by FAR the funniest game we've played!

*Will PROVIDE A FUNNY PICTURE LATER...

The next day was spent at IKEA with Ashlee, Mom and the ADORABLE Gavin. It was so fun just to take it easy. However, at times it was overwhelming with the loads of furniture piled everywhere. I love it!

We went to church in Windermere and kind of relaxed the rest of the day. At church we saw the missionary wall and Sean's brother was on it. I, being the photo guru that I am, took a picture of it for memories sake. That was our weekend... s'much fun! Everyone should go to IKEA once in their lifetime.

Don't touch the phone...

I need to write about something funny Sean did before I forget it. So we just bought a new phone, the ATT Flight Phone. Anyway, the next night or so after we bought it, we used it as an alarm for me in the morning. The phone is on Sean’s side of the bed, so when the alarm went off (at about 5 in the morning) Sean woke up sort of panicking looking around for where the sound was coming from. I told him that it was okay and it was just the alarm. Before I could reach for the phone, Sean grabbed it. He was totally out of it. I asked him to give me the phone so I could turn it off, but he kept holding it away from me saying, “No don’t touch it,” like it was hurt or something...lol.

He still couldn’t figure out what was going and the screen was too bright for him to look at. He tried to look at the screen without looking directly at it, but it kept hurting his eyes every time he looked at it. He was being very gentle with the phone and would harldy touch the screen. He caressed the side of it, then rolled over and tenderly placed the phone face down in the drawer—still not really knowing what was going on—and calmly closed the drawer. It was almost as if the phone had feelings and he didn’t want to let anything happen to it. He then rolled back over, put his arm over me, and fell back asleep. It was so so so funny. Maybe it was because it was new, or maybe it was because it was a touch screen. Any way, I decided that Sean finds a new way to make me smile every day.... I’ll keep you posted on what exactly that is.

Miracle's Happen

Now I'm not bragging, but I wanted to write you to tell you about some experiences I've had since I graduated in December 2009.

After graduation it felt like because I had my degree, people were going to be knocking down my door to hire me. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. In January I left Idaho to venture out in NYC for an internship. I stayed out there for a few months but because I was getting married, I wasn't able to stay out there. My husband-to-be Sean was still in ID going to school. Before, during and after that time I was searching for jobs ANYWHERE in my attempt to plan for the future. Nothing was happening. I called; I e-mailed; I went to their offices. It just felt like things weren't going to happen the way I had “planned”. I had to start saving money for the wedding and the move to Florida, so in April Sean and I got a job with Kirby vacuums. Sean was constantly looking online for jobs for me--we were looking for anything to get me going down my career path. The searching was to no avail so in July Sean and I moved to Florida to get married and begin our lives together, closer to our families and Sean’s business opportunity with his dad.
After the wedding I had some prospects for jobs as a nanny. I couldn’t find anything in my area of expertise so I ultimately chose to start a part-time position as a nanny. All the while Sean and I were keeping an eye out for job postings.
Finally…FINALLY at the beginning of December I got a bite as a receptionist. It was through a temp agency and the lady that I interviewed with told me it was a temporary position that could lead to full time, if I played my cards right. She called me and interviewed me on a Tuesday night and I started on Wednesday morning.

Immediately I could tell this company was great! They were very close-knit, unselfish, integrous people. The office staff had about eleven people and they were all more than welcoming. My first few days there I had helped them set up for their Christmas party in which they flooded their staff with gifts and appreciation for all of their hard work! Can you believe that even though I was a temporary receptionist they even gave me the same gift card they were giving all of their employees?
Anyway, after a few days I went to speak with the HR Manager to ask her specifically how temporary this position was. She then told me that the owner had hired someone else for my position and didn't tell her, so my position was only going to last a total of two weeks. That was a HUGE disappointment. However, even though I wasn't going to be working for them permanently, I still decided to give my all. I wanted to show them that I wasn't going to quit before my time was up. I was going to keep asking for things to do and how things work. I was going to keep giving it everything I had.

The next day, the HR Manager asked how I was with writing. I told her that I can write (not knowing what their expectations were at that point), so she gave me the assignment of writing a thank you letter to the participants in a contest they had had. It wasn't supposed to be anything too long, just short, sweet and to the point (sound familiar :)?) So I did what just came naturally (after 4 years of learning in PR classes) and crafted the thank you letter with all of the information they had asked. I was completely shocked when they were "WOWED" by my work--in one little paragraph!!! They were so impressed that they decided to ask me if I could write other things. I answered with "That's what I was trained to do for 4 years in college. I love doing things like that." After that I was asked to write personal letters from the owner, bonus letters, etc., followed by them asking me if I would be interested in doing their newsletter for them. I was absolutely delighted! They hadn't had a newsletter (or any communications staff) since March and they were happy that I actually wanted to do the newsletter. I was in charge of writing every article in it, including the employee of the month article in which I had to do my research. They were absolutely ELATED when I had finished it in just a week and got the December newsletter out in December. If it wasn't for the practice that I had received at BYU-Idaho, especially in your PR Writing course, I wouldn't have been prepared for the tasks they had given me.

After the newsletter, I was put in charge of the website, as well as the flickr, facebook, and twitter accounts. The owner and the HR Manager just kept hitting me with all of these ideas that they knew I could implement for them. Neither of them are savvy with they ways of PR and were relieved that their ideas would actually be taken care of. I completed a year-in-review newsletter to make up all of the lost months of no new information. Everyone was asking me to write or create things for them. It has been everything from brochures, to boilerplates (which they didn't have one and I created it for them), to scope letter estimate forms. I was working hard all day everyday, writing everything down, staying organized, and always asking questions to learn more about the company. I had to gain a general interest of industrial painting (which I never thought I'd do). Now I know that this seems like a LOT of background information, and NOT a short and sweet version, but I wanted to give you the background so you can understand where I was coming from.

I wanted to tell you that even though there wasn't really a place for me, because of my hard work and knowledge of things that I assumed most people have a basic knowledge of (which most people do NOT have that basic knowledge), they made room for me and offered me the position of the head of communications as the Communications Specialist!!!! All of the hard work pays off!

When people had come to BYU-Idaho for Communications Day, and everyone had told me to write all I can, I didn't realize how vital it was going to be. I would like you to tell your students that it wasn't memorizing answers, but it was writing that got me the position here at my company, and it was because I applied what I learned at BYU-Idaho! I got this job because I knew what I wanted and I worked hard for it, even if it seemed as if it was a dead end. This job came because I trusted in the Lord, when other things didn't work out, I knew they didn't work out for a reason. This job was my reason. I started out as a temporary, two-week-receptionist and became their Communications Specialist. I wasn't the top of my class, I didn't have a definite career planned in my future. I just took whatever I could get, and didn't turn something down because it wasnt' exactly my dream job. I worked hard and turned this less than average job to the career I had been looking for.

P.S. I just got another job offer that originally wanted me as a receptionist, but then saw my resume and wanted me as their marketing specialist!

You heard right...I'm a wife!

So this is for everyone out there who's been saying, "Meagan, UPDATE YOUR BLOG!" I love you guys and I'm doing this for you!

August 14, 2009 was the beginning of the rest of my life as a married woman. The day turned out beautifully. The week before, however, was a little intense.

Sean and I drove from Rexburg, Idaho to Springfield, Missouri, to Orlando, Florida in a few days. We made it safely without a problem (aside from a cop in Alabama thinking that my headlights were too bright, and he didn't even know how to read my car registration correctly) taking pictures all along the way of all the states that we visited. It was such a fun trip and we knew that if we could make it through that, then we could make it through anything! A funny thing happened, however, our first day in Orlando...I got in my first car accident. Yep, some guy side swiped me after I was making a U-Turn. Not my fault, but still my first car accident. Was that going to discourage me? I DON'T THINK SO!!!

The whole two weeks before the wedding was havoc, but enjoyable havoc. We met with Sean's aunt Kathy who instantly became our caterer and decorator. She took care of it all including chair covers, tablecloths, and paying for mostly all our flowers! She was a saint and made our life so much easier. Within two weeks we planned:
-flowers (including visiting the florist)
-food
-decorations
-bridesmaid dresses (all sizes in the same dress)
-bridesmaid shawls (probably the hardest part)
-jewelry
-Sean's tux
-vests for all the grooms men
-honeymoon
-finding outfits for the parents
-hair appointment
-nail appointment
-making sure full invites for the bridal shower
AND PROBABLY MORE THAT I CAN'T EVEN THINK OF!

My bridal shower was wonderful and fun and scandalous and exciting. It was the night before the wedding so everyone that was in town got to come. I wore some hot pink heels and I received a TON of gifts!!! Seriously it was like a birthday times ten!

Then came the wedding. Everything was taken care of and everything was so so so so beautiful! I wish everyone could have been there! However, I did feel the spirits of everyone I love there with me, I really did. I was absolutely BEAMING!!! My sister and sean's cousin (the professional makeup artist) both came in the brides room to help me get ready. Sean and I were a little shaky but once we knelt across the altar, it was perfect. We were so happy. Sean was actually crying more than I was (especially when we were hugging everyone). I cried too... tears of pure PURE joy. My heart was so full. I was truly happy. My brother in-law Jon, and Sean's BFF Andrew were our witnesses. Neither of our parents could be in there with us, but nothing about the day felt wrong. IT WAS ALL SO PERFECT!

My mom and dad met us in the entrance of the temple with my flowers, tears and hugs. When Sean and I saw each other for the first time (him seeing me for the first time in my dress--worth the wait), we just belonged together. When we walked outside everyone was applauding, taking pictures, crying, laughing, smiling, complimenting, and everyone just looked perfect.

We took lots of great pics and made our way to the reception to see everything. We then went to pack for the honeymoon and went back to the reception... TO BE CONTINUED... MY HUBBY IS CALLING! LOVE YOU GUYS!